by Dominic Papatola
Pioneer Press
December 22, 1999

To paraphrase Charles Dickens, Christmas is a time, of all others, when want is keenly felt, abundance rejoices, and actors have to go to work.

So it is with the cast, crew and musicians who make up the touring ensemble of "Rent," which touched down in the Twin Cities Tuesday. While the fortunate among us will be spending the coming days close to loved ones in familiar surroundings, the 48-member company will spend Christmas night at the Ordway Music Theatre.

As individuals, they might be thousands of miles from home. But proximity, an itinerant
schedule and time together have fused the company into a kind of second family.

"As with all families, you have the good, the bad and the dysfunction," said company
manager Roeya Banuazizi, who's been with this group since it hit the road in July 1997. "You still love everyone, but you have your ups and downs."

Banuazizi, who worked for cable station ESPN before joining the "Rent" company, hasn't spent a Christmas with her family in California for seven years. That first year, in New York with her then-boyfriend, "we bought a little Charlie Brown tree and decorated it with red bulbs and twinkle lights and had a catered dinner, just for the two of us. Come to think of it, I think that was the first year I waited until Christmas morning to open all my presents."

She eventually figured out that phone-and-FedEx Christmases, while maybe not traditional, are an adequate way to keep in touch. That's a lesson the 30-year-old tries to impart to her younger company members. "The holiday season is always a difficult time," Banuazizi concedes. "Tempers do get a little bit shorter, and travel days get a little bit harder."

For some of the cast members, who range in age from 19 to 32, she continued, "this is their first real gig, so they're learning to be professionals, as well as learning to be on the road, as well as learning how to be away from their families."

That's the case with Saycon Sengbloh, a self-described "mama's girl" who joined the
company in the central role of Mimi just last month. Saturday, she'll celebrate her first
Christmas away from her family in Atlanta.

"I'm not as sad about being away for Christmas as I am at being away from home, period," said Sengbloh, who was discovered at a "cattle call" audition when "Rent" visited her hometown.

"My mommy misses me dearly, but she's a nurse, and nurses have to work holidays, too,
so I know she understands."

Circumstance and scheduling will bring Sengbloh to a seldom-seen branch of her family
tree this Christmas.

"My father passed earlier this year, and weirdly enough, I met two half-sisters that I'd never met before," she said. "They live in Minneapolis, and I talked to their mother, and she's going to bring them to the show."

The 1999 holiday schedule is slightly more civilized for the company than it was last year, when the troupe did shows Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in Memphis, then bugged out for a New Year's gig in Fort Myers, Fla. Instead of a pair of weeklong runs, they'll settle in for a 12-day stay in St. Paul, with an entire day free today. The cast and crew exchanged names as part of a "secret Santa" project, and the show's producers pop for a holiday party and give gifts to the cast, crew and musicians.

Still, it can get complicated, said Scott Hunt, a Dayton, Ohio, native who plays Mark and has shuttled between the Broadway and touring companies for two years. He concedes that the separation at this time of year hits some in the cast harder than others.

"Beyond the fact that we have different ethnicities and different religions celebrating
different holidays," he said, "we have some people who have never had the experience of being away from home. A lot of these guys from the West Coast have never seen snow, so they'll be in for a surprise."

Hunt is one of the lucky ones. While the company was in Toledo last week, his mother
drove up from Dayton to spend some pre-holiday time with him. In his contract, he negotiated a few days off around New Year's, which he plans to spend with his girlfriend, who's in the New York company of "Rent."

But he acknowledges that, as long as he remains in his chosen career, those kinds of
holidays are destined to be more the exception than the rule.

"My grandfather passed away while I was out on the road," he said. "I missed the last two Christmases with him, and I'll miss this first Christmas without him. It's hard, but after a while, you become used to the fact that this is your existence. All in all, I try to take the blessings with the hardships, and I know that I'm pretty blessed to be doing this."