![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/RENT_cast_ps.jpg\")
A scene from RENT at the A.R.T\/New York Theatres presented by the EPIC Players. Courtesy of EPIC Players<\/p>\n
\u201cRENT is ultimately about finding your people and building community and that\u2019s exactly what our artists do every day at EPIC,\u201d Aubrie Therrien said, the company\u2019s founder and artistic director.<\/p>\n
Written by the late Jonathan Larson, RENT, received a Pulitzer prize for drama in 1996. The musical follows a group of friends living in Manhattan\u2019s Lower East Side who meet through chance encounters. Themes focus on sexual identity, drug addiction, death and the burgeoning AIDS crisis of the time, all while dealing with the timeless and pervasive issue plaguing nearly all New Yorkers \u2013 rent.<\/p>\n
Among the central cast of eight characters is Angel Dumont Schunard, known simply as Angel, a transgender busker living with AIDS in NYC.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cThis body provides a comfortable home, for the acquired immune deficiency syndrome,\u201d Angel tells Tom Collins (played by Cameron Walker) after offering him a bandage for the busted knee he acquired after a recent violent mugging.<\/p>\n
Softened by Angel\u2019s candor and sympathy, Collins admits he too carries the virus.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
The audience meets Angel as a kind and caring individual, but also as a no-nonsense diva, shunned by society and jaded by the streets of the concrete jungle.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI love Angel so much that I\u2019ve been been training for it. Like, I will never forget me going to the gym, because you know, Angel\u2019s fit, and I would say to myself, \u2018You have to work hard for this role,\u2019 Cartagena said. \u201cI even came in full drag [for the audition.]\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/RENT_rehearsalfloor_ps.jpg\")
Joshua Cartagena and Cameron Walker sit on the floor while rehearsing an especially emotional scene from RENT. Courtesy of EPIC Players<\/p>\n
Cartagena tends to over sympathize with the characters he plays, often finding himself in tears while rehearsing for the role of Angel, identifying with her traumas and feelings of \u201cnot being enough.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI used to cry a lot every time when it comes to Angel, like, as an actor, and I learned that no matter what, it\u2019s okay to cry and let it out, but Angel is just the character,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t have to put my shoes in her shoes.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The moment harkened a memory of Cartagena\u2019s own feelings of rejection when he auditioned for a special performing arts college and was accepted with a scholarship. He was over the moon, until it was ripped way.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI got into the school, I got into orientation, they knew I had a learning disability, they knew I graduated with an IEP [individualized education program,]\u201d he said, not wanting to publicly disclose the name of the school. \u201cAfter orientation finished, and I did my whole placement job, they said, \u2018Joshua, we cannot have you here anymore,\u2019 and that destroyed me because I didn\u2019t get the chance to share my personality.\u201d<\/p>\n
Neurodivergent individuals often face social and professional rejection. According to a 2023 study,<\/a> youth with physical tic disorders experienced discriminatory environments in school and work, and limited availability of community services and healthcare access, as do those with autism. <\/p>\n Due to either real or perceived stigmatization, neurodivergent people may feel pressured to mask, where they \u2013 either consciously or subconsciously \u2013 work to suppress their unique quirks and behave in line with social norms.<\/p>\n While the experience deterred Cartagena from pursuing a college education, it motivated him to work harder towards a career in musical theater, while looking up to pop singer Billie Eilish as a role model. The GRAMMY-award-winner disclosed her Tourette\u2019s Syndrome via Instagram in 2018 when she was in her early 20s, despite being diagnosed at age 11.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cShe taught me that if she can do it, I can do it, and that\u2019s what I want to relay, the message to other people that that doesn\u2019t stop us from what we have and what we do,\u201d Cartagena said.<\/p>\n While several celebrities and media personalities have neurodivergent diagnoses \u2013 like Public Advocate Jumaane Williams with Tourette\u2019s and environmental activist Greta Thunberg with autism \u2013 representation and public awareness is still few and far between.<\/p>\n \u201c\u200aI think for a long time, this gap in understanding or this gap in community building has kept folks separate from each other in a way of limiting power and limiting community and limiting advocacy that is almost intentional disenfranchisement,\u201d Cassidy Kaye said, who began as an intern at EPIC after earning her Master\u2019s degree in educational theater for communities. <\/p>\n She is also the nonprofit\u2019s executive program assistant and co-director of RENT.\n<\/p>\n \u201cI think we\u2019re going to need to rely on creative problem-solving and the tenants and the power of the arts to bridge that gap.\u201d\u00a0\n<\/p>\n Through June 20, the EPIC Players bring their neuro-inclusive retelling of RENT to the stage at the A.R.T\/New York Theatres in Manhattan to a neuro-inclusive audience. <\/p>\n Not only will there be ADA-accessible seating, but also fidget toys, noise-cancelling headphones, quiet zones, ASL interpretation and captioned performances, as well as a relaxed theater environment where individuals can vocalize and move around as needed.\u00a0<\/p>\n Reach ET Rodriguez at\u00a0etrodriguez317@gmail.com<\/a>. For more coverage, subscribe to our\u00a0newsletter<\/a>\u00a0and follow us on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>,\u00a0Facebook<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Instagram<\/a>!\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/RENT_angelcollins_ps.jpg\")
Joshua Cartagena (l.) and Cameron Walker, the two play Angel and Collins, respectively, in the newest production of RENT. Courtesy of EPIC Players<\/p>\n