SiteForRent.com's Biggest RENThead Competition

Um, wow! Yesterday I was notified by email that I am one of the 10 finalists participating in SiteForRent.com's Biggest RENThead Competition. If I win the Grand Prize, I become the new show's official blogger, and I gain unprecedented access to the production.

To enter, I had to create a 30 second video outlining exactly why I am the Biggest RENThead.



In Round 2, I need to write a 250-word essay about the same topic as my video. They also want me to throw in some flare and give a taste of what my writing skills are like. Without further ado, here it is...

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The house lights dim. A hushed electricity channels through the building, penetrating the actors, the stage hands, the pit band, and the audience alike. Closing night is always a fun and tough experience. Months of rehearsals and performances finally climax into one final production. It all comes down to this. It needs to be perfect. 

I'm playing the part of Roger, and it's Roger's entrance that sets this locomotive of a show into motion. The stage is dark. Everyone is waiting for me, but I want to bask in this feeling a little longer.

"What are you doing?" Matt (Mark) mouthes in the darkness of stage right.

...My mind races. I'm thinking about the first time I saw Rent in high school, and how listening to the music every night helped mend my heart when my grandmother passed. I'm thinking about the wonderful people I've met and now care about, because of this show. I'm thinking of how special Rent is, and how never has a show made such a profound, permanent impression on me…

I should say something. My eyes shoot downward, examining the ground. Maybe the words will be spelt out with glow-in-the-dark gaff tape on the floor of the right wing… They're not.

Suddenly, it strikes me.

"Thanks, Jon."

I smile, take the guitar pick out of my mouth and run across the stage. I plug in the shitty, out-of-tune Fender, and strum the open strings. It rings like a conch; calling all of my friends onto the stage for our final hurrah.

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The submission period ends at 11:59pm (EDT) on May 30th. I should find out a week or so later if I made it. FINGERS CROSSED!