Alan Mingo Jr. began performing with a small neighborhood group in Rockville. They were so good they were invited to Los Angeles to appear on the TV show “Putting on the Ritz,” a forerunner of “Star Search.” Back home, he pursued theater studies in high school and at the University of Maryland, ultimately starting a professional career that now brings him back to his alma mater to direct a student production of “Rent.” “These students were very young when the show debuted on Broadway in 1996, so the first thing I had to do was get them to understand the chaos during that period,” Mingo said. “When AIDS was identified, people were afraid. They didn’t know if you caught it from touching a victim and his belongings, or just being in the same room. There were many outlandish suggestions for dealing with it.
“The second point is that the story deals with poverty. To help them understand what the characters are going through, we discuss the economic situation today and the possibility that jobs might not be waiting for them when they graduate. For the most part, I honor the spirit of the Broadway production as it was intended, but I added a little twist by letting the designers come up with their own ideas.”
| Onstage |
| ‘Rent’ |
| Where: Kay Theatre, Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, University of Maryland, College Park |
| When: 8 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Oct. 28, 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday amd Thursday |
| Info: $30, seniors and U.Md. Alumni Association members $25, U.Md. faculty and staff $24, students and youth $9; 301-405-ARTS (2787); laricesmithcenter.umd.edu |
Mingo said he’s thrilled to return to the University of Maryland and mount the show that marked his Broadway debut. The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center did not exist when he was acting in student productions. It offers space and facilities he could not have imagined.
He credits Michael D’Anna, his theater teacher at Magruder High School, with alerting him to the two scholarships that took him to the university. The Maryland Distinguished Scholarship provided funding, and the Kappa Scholarship required him to audition for every show produced by the theater school.
After leaving Maryland, he continued graduate studies at the University of California, Irvine, until 1998, when he was released to tour with “Rent.” The one provision was that he write and submit his dissertation while on the road.
By the time he hit Broadway, Mingo knew every aspect of “Rent.” Since then, he has performed in “Hairspray,” “The Lion King,” “The Little Mermaid” and “Shrek: The Musical,” as well as television turns in “Frasier” and “Law & Order.”
“I want the Maryland audiences to enjoy our fresh new take on the story and get a glimpse of bohemian life,” he said. “The message is that it takes a community to get along and reach out to those who don’t have much.”
