Chapter 13: RENT

*Talent Show*

"Up next is Rent performed by La Vie Boheme and Benjamin Coffin the third."

MARK
How do you document real life
When real life is getting more
Like fiction each day
Headlines - bread-lines
Blow my mind
And now this deadline
"Eviction - or pay"
Rent!

ROGER
How do you write a song
When the chords sound wrong
Though they once sounded right and rare
When the notes are sour
Where is the power
You once had to ignite the air

MARK
And we're hungry and frozen

ROGER
Some life that we've chosen

TOGETHER
How we gonna pay
How we gonna pay
How we gonna pay
Last year's rent

MARK
We light candles

ROGER
How do you start a fire
When there's nothing to burn
And it feels like something's stuck in your flue

MARK
How can you generate heat
When you can't feel your feet

BOTH
And they're turning blue!

MARK
You light up a mean blaze

(ROGER grabs one of his own posters.)

ROGER
With posters -

(MARK grabs old manuscripts.)

MARK
And screenplays

MARK & ROGER
How we gonna pay
How we gonna pay
How we gonna pay
Last year's rent

MARK(reading from a script page)
"The music ignites the night with passionate fire"

ROGER
"The narration crackles and pops with incendiary wit"

MARK
Zoom in as they burn the past to the ground

MARK & ROGER
And feel the heat of the future's glow

MARK & HALF THE COMPANY
How do you leave the past behind
When it keeps finding ways to get to your heart
It reaches way down deep and tears you inside out
Till you're torn apart
Rent!

ROGER & OTHER HALF OF COMPANY
How can you connect in an age
Where strangers, landlords, lovers
Your own blood cells betray

ALL
What binds the fabric together
When the raging, shifting winds of change
Keep ripping away

BENNY
Draw a line in the sand
And then make a stand

ROGER
Use your camera to spar

MARK
Use your guitar

ALL
When they act tough - you call their bluff

MARK & ROGER
We're not gonna pay

MARK & ROGER W/HALF THE COMPANY
We're not gonna pay

MARK & ROGER W/OTHER HALF OF COMPANY
We're not gonna pay

ALL
Last year's rent
This year's rent
Next year's rent
Rent rent rent rent rent
We're not gonna pay rent

ROGER & MARK
'Cause everything is rent

*Back stage*

"That was amazing." Mimi said to her friends excluding Benny.

"Thanks to yours and Roger's lyrics." Mark said with a smile.

"Thanks Mark. Well we're up next Mimi." Roger said with a big grin for ha and Mimi worked hard on this song.

"Up next Roger Davis and Mimi Marquez." Announced Joanne who was the announcer of the talent show. Mimi walked on the stage and Roger waited for his que.

MIMI

Without you

The ground thaws

The rain falls

The grass grows

Without you

The seeds root

The flowers bloom

The children play

The stars gleam

The poets dream

The eagles fly

Without you

The earth turns

The sun burns

But I die

Without you

Without you

The breeze warms

The girl smiles

The cloud moves

Without you

The tides change

The boys run

The oceans crash

The crowds roar

The days soar

The babies cry

Without you

The moon glows

The river flows

But I die

Without you

ROGER

The world revives

MIMI

Colors renew

BOTH

But I know blue

Only blue

Lonely blue

Within me, blue

Without you

MIMI

Without you

The hand gropes

The ear hears

The pulse beats

ROGER

Without you

The eyes gaze

The legs walk

The lungs breathe

BOTH

The mind churns

The heart yearns

The tears dry

Without you

Life goes on

But I'm gone

Cause I die

ROGER

Without you

MIMI

Without you

ROGER

Without you

BOTH

Without you

At the end of the song, Mimi and Roger began to kiss passionately. The crowd erupted with cheer. Though backstage you could see Benny turn a shade of green… green of jealousy and envy.