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City of Orlando approves construction permit for the Ren, and The (Vampire) Show WILL GO ON!

Alastair Mac
Sep 26
4 min read

The city of Orlando approved the Ren’s permit application on Thursday afternoon. While the Ren works to get back into their building, Off the Record Wednesday and Nosferatu will continue in other venues thanks to local partnerships.

City of Orlando approves construction permit for the Ren, and The (Vampire) Show WILL GO ON!

After being displaced from their building and performance space on September 19, Renaissance Theatre Company’s leadership team—along with the Orlando community—quickly jumped into action to get back in working order. The theater was temporarily shut down after its annual fire inspection. In the midst of the company’s busiest time of year, a shutdown, even for just a weekend, has devastating financial repercussions for the nonprofit.

Thanks to existing relationships with architect Jed Prest at Baker Barrios Architects and Contractor Jason Albu at Albu and Associates, the team at the Ren quickly requested a permit from the city to begin construction to get the building up to code. On Thursday afternoon (September 25th), the city approved that permit.

“The people in the Permitting Services Department at the city, especially Thea Walker, have been so kind and helpful in guiding us through this process, and expediting things so that we can get open as quickly as possible,” Donald Rupe, Co-Founder of Renaissance Theatre Company, says. “Several of our local officials have checked in and have helped us, too. Commissioner Patty Sheehan, Representative Anna Eskamani, and Senator Carlos Guillermo Smith all stepped up right away to see how they could help.” He continues, “The good news is that the work can begin. The bad news is that there are some pretty hard costs in what we have to do.” Essentially, the best path forward is to completely demolish the set for the theater’s biggest show of the year, Nosferatu, and start from scratch. “Nosferatu is our biggest, most expensive, and most profitable show each year. Even before all this, the show would have cost us about $500,000 to make, and now we have to essentially demolish the set and pivot in a different direction to finish the Halloween season. We can do it, obviously; artists are scrappy people and we employ the hardest working and most talented people in the business, but this is costing us a lot of money, a lot of time, and we’re working fast to pivot and stay positive.”

With an outpouring of donations from the community, the Ren has raised just over $20,000 from 214 donors in just a few days, which has helped compensate for some of the lost revenue due to the closure. As a result, the company was able to pay all wages for performers and staff for the missed performances. The plan is to continue to pay staff and performers amidst this shutdown for as long as they can.

More good news: as the saying goes: the (vampire) show must go on. The city is full of superheroes, as it turns out, and thanks to local businesses and partners, the Ren has already found an alternate venue for its Halloween show, Nosferatu thanks to the incredible generosity of the folks at The Plaza Live.

Nosferatu/VBAR: Condamned will have 2 special performances on September 27th and October 4th at the Plaza Live at their location, 425 N. Bumby Ave, Orlando, FL.

The larger venue allows for more potential ticket revenue and could potentially help keep the company afloat during this challenging time. The cast and crew are excited to bring Nosferatu to a larger venue before a larger crowd, while keeping the edge that makes Nosferatu stand out as a singular artistic experience; but they have to move a lot of tickets in a short amount of time. “We’re hoping the community continues to show up and grab tickets to these shows; we’re going to do what we always do and put on an amazing immersive vampire experience, and I hope folks fill those seats for us.”

Thanks also to the incredible generosity of the Beacham Group, Off the Record Wednesday continued without interruption at The Social for OTR: Condemned this Wednesday, September 24th and will continue at the Corner on October 1st.

“We create the art we make for our community. If anything, this situation has further shown all of us at the Ren that what we are creating is important and needed, and that we are valued and supported by the people and organizations in our community,” said Abby Cash, Ren staff member and cast member of Nosferatu. Many other businesses and individuals have stepped up to assist: Creative City Project and Memoir Agency are providing temporary equipment for the touring shows, SunRoom hosted the Ren’s staff meeting, and a slew of local artists and companies have offered help when the Ren is ready. Abby continues: “We created a little saying during all of this, and it’s this: The Ren isn’t just a place—it’s you. And we’ve seen our patrons, community, and staff step up and show us that the Ren is so much more than just a building…though, admittedly, we do really miss our building.”

As work begins to restore the space and continue creating unforgettable entertainment, people can consider supporting the Nonprofit organization by purchasing tickets to the shows at the Plaza Live or donating at rentheatre.com/donate or volunteering at https://forms.gle/vZJnRkFghh8nrNbm6.

For tickets to OTR and VBar, visit www.rentheatre.com.

Before attending any of the events listed on Gotta Go Orlando, you should contact the organizer or venue to confirm that the event is taking place as information, changes, and cancellations can occur.

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