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The apartment in the 2008 pro shoot.
Mark and Roger's apartment is one of the main locations of the musical RENT. While the main tenants are Mark Cohen and Roger Davis, previous tenants include Tom Collins, Benjamin Coffin III, April Ericson, and Maureen Johnson, while Mimi Marquez lives elsewhere in the apartment building. Benny, after moving out, bought the apartment building and the empty lot next to it. He planned to start a cyber arts studio and issued an eviction notice to the many people living there, starting the events of the show.
History[]
Before it was an apartment, the loft, located on the corner of 11th Street and Avenue B, was a music publishing company.[1] Eventually, the company shut down and/or sold the building, which was turned into an apartment.
At some point, the various people all lived in the apartment, presumably at the same time. The first person to leave was either April, who killed herself after finding out she was HIV-positive (a year before the start of the show), or Benny, who married Alison Grey and moved out (a unknown time before, presumably also about a year). When he left, he said that they wouldn't need to pay rent.
Tom Collins left some time after that to take a teaching position at MIT. Maureen left shortly after Collins, having broken up with Mark and moved in with Joanne Jefferson. Around this point, Benny issued the notice of eviction requiring that they pay the past year's worth of rent, and Maureen started planning a protest.[2]
While Collins did eventually return, he did not move back in, instead staying with his new lover, Angel Dumott Schunard. Maureen's protest brought media attention, and Benny offered to let them live in the apartment rent-free, but they didn't really talk with him, simply continuing the celebration.[3]
Even after Angel's death, it is unclear if Collins moved back in. It did however prompt Roger to move out, selling his guitar and moving to Santa Fe.[4] During the time Roger was away, Mimi also moved out, becoming homeless and near death.[5] Roger moved back in, Mimi was found, and she presumably moved back in as well.[6]
Environment[]
Conditions in the apartment are not particularly good. Mark and Roger's "wood burning stove" is a garbage can they spray-painted the word hot on, and they use one very large cord to connect all their appliances to electricity. They don't have heating or proper ventilation for their "stove", and there is a tent city in the lot next to them.[1]
It is also somewhat implied that they don't have a real stove for cooking, as Mark's mother sends them a hot plate for Christmas[7] and none of the food that Collins brings home requires a stove to prepare.[8]
Trivia[]
- The apartment was based off of Jonathan Larson's real life apartment, shared with Jonathan Burkhart.[9]
- Their shower was in the kitchen, something characteristic of tenements from the 1920s-1930s. Burkhart also mentions that their floors were very bad, some areas separating when stepped on. They stayed because rent was 200 dollars at the time.
References[]
Mark and Roger's apartment is one of the main locations in the film RENT.
History[]
to be added