In Pictures: A Day in the Life with Rent’s Masini McDermott
Masini McDermott knows Rent pretty well.
And no, not just because she’s the “Seasons of Love” soloist in the Stratford Festival’s production of the rock opera. McDermott, making her Stratford debut this summer, played the same role in high school, right alongside her roommate, Nestor Lozano Jr., who’s also making his Stratford debut in Rent at the Stratford Festival this year.
“I feel like I’ve always loved this show,” Masini said in an interview. “It’s an iconic piece of theatre, and I feel like it’s even more revolutionary for me as an adult than it was for me as a teen. I’ve evolved with it as I’ve gotten older.”
Follow along with Masini as she takes you through a day in her life at the Stratford Festival!
This day was a matinee, so I woke up at 10. I usually try to wake up earlier than that, but I let myself sleep in when I have a matinee in the afternoon.
My skincare is one of my favourite things to do in the morning. I shower, brush my teeth and everything, and then I grab all my skincare. I use aloe vera gel, and the 10 per cent niacinimde gel by The Ordinary. Then I use my toner on top, and then Glow Recipe drops on top. They’re so good. They’re magic, and they smell so good. I finish it all off with a Cerave facial moisturizer.
My go-to coffee order at Balzac’s is an oat milk frappe, extra sweet. I usually go for the sugar-free vanilla flavour.
Nestor and I went to high school together, and we were best friends all throughout high school. Rent at the Stratford Festival was our first gig together. So this is something we do together sometimes before the show — we’ll get coffee. And that’s just convenient since we live together, too!
Usually we have to be signed in half an hour before our show, but I got here super early this day, like, 12:30 or so. We have to initial the call board when we arrive.
I keep a personal fan at my station, because I’m a little extra and it gets really hot between musical numbers. And because of the era of the show, I love that I get to use all these colours in my makeup. I use the James Charles palette because it has a lot of vibrant colours, lots of purples.
Backstage selfie with my buddy Andrea!
Something I love about Robert Markus is that he’s always bothering me during warmups, in these playful ways. In this photo, we’re just warming up in the rehearsal hall, which is where we do our open warm-up and our physical warm-up, as well as fight and dance call, where we go through the blocking to make sure that everyone remembers what they’re doing.
You can see how goofy Robert is. We’re supposedly warming up, but mostly we’re just laughing.
This is where it feels real. As a teenager, I didn’t know much about this business, or how it worked. Everyone in this industry seemed untouchable. They were just so good. But now, I have the understanding of what it means to audition and be part of a process. I know I’m meant to be there now. I’ve graduated to the next stage of my life, and I’m so proud. I’m not only representing myself, or my family, but an entirely new generation of artists. This has been the most inspiring, enlightening process.
My girls. We love having a good time. Sometimes we’ll joke around backstage about the show, or about how crazy this process has been. We joke and laugh all the time. It’s catch-up time, you know? We really enjoy each other’s company.
Right before going onstage!
After the show, I got to catch Much Ado About Nothing with some of my friends since I’d heard great things — and it was great! — and then headed home. On a normal night I’m in bed by 11:30 or so, and I love to watch kids’ movies before I go to sleep. Something lighthearted, something that makes me laugh.
You can catch Masini in Rent at the Stratford Festival until October 28. Tickets are available here.
Masini McDermott
Masini McDermott is the "Seasons of Love" soloist in Rent at the 2023 Stratford Festival, as well as an understudy in A Wrinkle in Time. She is a graduate of Wexford Collegiate School of the Arts and George Brown College.
LEARN MORE
Aisling Murphy
Aisling is Intermission's former senior editor and the theatre reporter for the Globe and Mail. She likes British playwright Sarah Kane, most songs by Taylor Swift, and her cats, Fig and June. She was a 2024 fellow at the National Critics Institute in Waterford, CT.
LEARN MORE
iPhoto caption: Photos courtesy of Lighthouse Festival.
Lighthouse Festival shines a light on Canadian comedies this summer
“When you laugh with a character, you connect with their story,” says artistic director Jane Spence. “You have more empathy and compassion for whatever their journey is. I believe that humour opens us up to each other’s life experiences. It’s what connects us.”
iPhoto caption: Kamyar Pazandeh and Julia McLellan in 'Waitress.' Photo by Dahlia Katz.
Ahead of the musical’s upcoming run at Hamilton’s Theatre Aquarius, I spoke with the production’s props and scenic design department to find out how they’re making the pie magic happen.
iPhoto caption: Photo courtesy of York University.
“I think the fundamental issue is that the foundation of inequity is still intact,” says co-curator Mariló Nuñez. “If you think about when Canadian theatre was first established, the theatre we were watching and learning about was Eurocentric, Western theatre… We place everything against that [perceived] ideal. Until that changes, I don’t think we can really make a change.”
iPhoto caption: Photo by Szymon Lazewski.
“We are all coming from somewhere, and we all have ancestors, and we all have this profound connection with not just where we come from but who we come from,” says playwright-performer Martha Knight. “That’s really connected me to the piece and connected me with everybody I’ve worked with on this show.”
iPhoto caption: Promotional still for Citizen Pochsy (2003). Photo by Gary Mulcahey.
Pochsy’s back! At VideoCabaret, a Canadian underground theatre icon returns to Toronto
“There are opposites at play at all times — in the show, in the writing, in the performance,” says playwright-performer Karen Hines. “When something gets dark, Pochsy might be super light in the delivery of it. When she’s being facetious or giggly, it might even be as she’s destroying a species."
iPhoto caption: Photo by Colton Curtis Photography.
Genny Sermonia sweetens the pot as choreographer of Waitress
When Genny mentions that her brother Julius is part of the ensemble, I smell a story cooking — so I attend a rehearsal at the Grand Theatre to watch the duo in action.
iPhoto caption: Photo by Aisling Murphy.
In the darkest months of Yukon winter, it’s all about the Sun Room
I’m here for a week in January as a guest of Nakai Theatre, a hub for theatrical experimentation and outside-the-box programming in Canada’s westernmost territory.
Armchairs, tattoos, and an online theatre magazine
When I started at Intermission, my world was limited to the confines of an armchair. Arts journalism was a high it felt dangerously fruitless to chase. The life stretched ahead of me was amorphous and frightening, a chasm filled with hand sanitizer and immigration concerns. It was worth crying over a spilled kombucha and scrubbing at the stain.
iPhoto caption: Liz Appel headshot courtesy of Liz Appel.
Five questions with Wights playwright Liz Appel
Intermission spoke with Appel over email for a brief Q&A about Wights, now playing at Crow’s Theatre until February 9.
Call for applications: Publishing and editorial assistant
Intermission Magazine is seeking a dynamic and collaborative individual to join our team.
iPhoto caption: What Writing Can Do: The 2025 Musical Theatre Critics Lab
Announcing What Writing Can Do: The 2025 Musical Theatre Critics Lab
What Writing Can Do is timed to coincide with the Grand and Theatre Aquarius’ co-production of Waitress, which will serve as a jumping-off point for discussions throughout the Lab.
iPhoto caption: A Christmas Story production still by Dahlia Katz.
REVIEW: A Christmas Story feels fresh at Theatre Aquarius
If you want to catch A Christmas Story before it closes, good luck — the show is close to sold out, and with the talent on that stage, it’s not hard to see why.
Comments