By Emilie Duggan

Collegian Staff

The original 1996 Broadway cast of “RENT” proposed the idea of selling a set number of tickets at a cheaper price. The idea was to make going to the show an option for those who couldn’t necessarily afford to pay the going rate for tickets on Broadway; people like those they were portraying in the show.

Today, each venue that hosts “RENT” puts aside a certain number of tickets to be sold for $20 on a first-come, first-serve basis. The number of tickets available depends on the size of the venue, but it’s usually in the neighborhood of 30, and they are always in the first two rows of the theater. Though the box office won’t sell these tickets – known as ‘rush’ seats – until two hours before the show starts, tradition dictates the line begins to form long before the box office even opens.

Here at UMass, there will be 28 rush tickets available for each show. They will be $20 per ticket, but if you’re student at UMass, you will only be charged the $15 student price. Tickets will go on sale at 5:30 p.m., but people can line up whenever they choose. There is a limit of two tickets per person, so the first 14 people to line up will get the tickets.

In every city except New York, the first person in line finds out how many tickets will be released and starts the list. The list keeps track of how many tickets are left and when the tickets have all been claimed. Once the magic number is reached, the list is put away until the box office opens. The ‘rush’ formula dictates that each person is allowed one ticket, and if you make it on the list, you must wait there for the duration of the day. Exceptions are obviously made for bathroom breaks and food runs, but competition is intense for these seats. If you’re gone too long, you will lose your spot.

However, the list is not a guarantee of anything except that you were there all day. The theater ultimately has the final say in how ‘rush’ tickets will be distributed. While most will go by the list, some theaters follow the lead of the Nederlander Theater in New York City, where the Broadway cast performs.

A lottery system was started in New York when it became clear that the same people were getting the tickets night after night, despite requests to give others a chance to see the show. The lottery gives everyone a fair shot at the $20 tickets, regardless of whether you got there at 5 a.m. or 5 p.m. To prevent fans from congregating in line for hours or days, the lottery system is instituted at theaters for the touring show. But, it is not the institution of a fair system that has fans as upset as the fact that loitering is no longer allowed outside.

Outside of any theater where “RENT” is housed, you are likely to find people sitting patiently on the sidewalk. These are the ‘Rentheads,’ young fans who have an all-consuming obsession with the show. They come from near and far, travel across state and country lines, just to see the show. They bring coolers of food and drink and sleeping bags, prepared to hunker down for the long wait before the show. Fans share board games and books, paper and writing utensils, and even their clothes. Strangers become fast friends out here. In a few short hours, they will have formed a community of their own, as strong as the one found in “RENT.”

Seventeen-year-old Meghan McMahon of Staten Island, N.Y. equates sitting outside – known as rushing the show – with better understanding the show’s meaning.

“Within minutes of meeting people in line you know you have someone to watch your back,” she said. “It’s bonding, because the ones who have tickets have to watch out for each other and make sure that no one tries to take their place.”

McMahon has been a “Renthead” since she was 12, when she would skip school to sit on line for tickets in New York City. Those days are gone, now, with the institution of the lottery system, but McMahon likes to talk about the good old days.

“I met my best friend here,” she said. “The two of us are taking on the world together. That’s what the show is about. ‘To being an us for once, instead of a them,’ ” McMahon says, quoting a song from the show.

There’s something unique about ‘Rentheads,’ and it’s not just their willingness – their enthusiasm, even – to sleep on sidewalks. They know every word to every song, and even the intermingling dialogue of “RENT.” They have been known to wear clothing similar, if not identical, to the costumes worn by a favorite character. Their devotion to the show can be alarming to outsiders, but cast members are thrilled with their presence.

Gwen Stewart, part of the original Broadway cast, told the New York Times in 1996: “The kids up front are the lifeline of the whole place. The whoop and holler and don’t use the usual Broadway tact. It’s good to see those faces.”

There are, however, some over-the-top fans who can be more than a little obsessed with both the show and the cast. Horror stories fly amongst ‘Rentheads’ about fans that have lied about being on their deathbed to get cast members to visit them, or the fans that honestly believe they are going to marry a character.

“The crazy ones scare me,” McMahon said. “They don’t know limits.” She admits, though, that she used to be scared that cast members would see her as a stalker because they started knowing her name.

“Yeah, I was here everyday,” she said. ” I was always hanging out by the stage door with my friends. But, I didn’t come here for them.”

McMahon is quick to add that she doesn’t dislike the cast members. But, “I came because of the story and the characters, not the people who play them.”

Most ‘Rentheads’ would agree it is not because of the people in the show that they are united. There is no doubt that the show and its message have been instrumental in bringing fans together from all corners of the world, but it is the relationships amongst each other that they find most important. Sitting outside for hours allows for strong bonding and time to practice concepts from the show.

“We used to get called names all the time,” McMahon said. “But everyone would literally just laugh it off and sing ‘let he among us without sin be the first to condemn.’ “

McMahon has intertwined “RENT” song lyrics into her everyday vocabulary, and she proudly admits that she lives by the motto “forget regret, or life is yours to miss.”

“Life is too short to feel bad about little things,” she said. “Learn your lesson and move on.”

There are many lessons to be learned from the show. But, according to McMahon, the most important philosophy ‘Rentheads’ can take away is that life is for learning to live, not waiting to die.

‘Rentheads’ have found something they relate to in this show. In an age where “strangers, landlords, lovers, your own blood cells betray,” devoted fans have found amongst themselves friends that understand what is truly important to them. These friendships may only last the hours spent on line, but they will resonate forever in memories.

These fans live the philosophy, “no day but today.” They celebrate life and living, understand that love is found everywhere and that death of body does not have to mean death of spirit.