THE last time Kelsi Boyden performed at the Civic Theatre she was a wide-eyed seven-year-old playing the orphaned Cosette in Les Misérables.
When the 28-year-old finally steps back onto her hometown stage, she'll return as an accomplished international theatre star and as the resident director of musical hit Rent.
"It's going to be a big full-circle moment of 20 years for me," Boyden says.
Sydney company LPD Productions (Cry-Baby and Catch Me If You Can) is bringing the multi-Tony Award winning musical for five shows in Newcastle after successful runs in Brisbane and Melbourne.
"It's such a gift to be able to bring a massive touring show back to my home town, especially because of the fact that it's Rent, which is such a special show for a lot of people," she says.
"It doesn't happen often in your career, so I feel very grateful."
Ever since Jonathan Larson's rock musical Rent debuted on Broadway in 1996, it has entertained multiple generations with its evergreen story of following your artistic dreams and love in the face of economic hardship and the HIV/AIDS epidemic of the early '90s.
Rent will be the first time Boyden has performed in Newcastle since 2007 when the then 11-year-old and her mother moved to Sydney to pursue theatre and star in the professional production of Billy Elliot The Musical.
Boyden later moved to Perth to study at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts and appeared in multiple productions, including lead female roles in Beauty & The Beast and comedy Schapelle Schapelle - The Musical, and she played Meg Giry in Phantom Of The Opera in Sydney and Europe.
There was also a spectacular run in the 2022 season of The Voice: Generations, where Boyden reached the grand final with her singing student Jess Laffan.
In Rent Boyden will have a prominent role as part of the featured ensemble and as Mrs Cohen, the mother of the protagonist, struggling Jewish-American filmmaker Mark Cohen.
But arguably of greater importance will be her role as resident director in maintaining the vision of director Shaun Rennie.
"I thought resident director or assistant directing was something I might go into later in my career," she says.
"So to have the opportunity now that I'm 28, is a massive opportunity and I'm trying to learn as much as I can from our beautiful director Shaun Rennie and all the tricks of the trade."
Boyden won't be the only Novocastrian in Rent.
Former Hunter School of Performing Arts student Theo Williams is in the featured ensemble and is understudy for the roles of anarchist professor Tom Collins and wealthy landlord Benjamin "Benny" Coffin III.
Williams, 24, began his theatre career with Newcastle's Metropolitan Players at age 10 when he starred in South Pacific. His most notable plays include the Melbourne season of Passing Strange in 2022 and his breakthrough role as David in Choir Boy, which led to a nomination for best newcomer at last year's Sydney Theatre Awards.
As a young artist living with his mother at Kahibah, Williams says the story of Rent remains relevant amid Australia's housing crisis.
"A lot of people think Rent doesn't have a lot to say to a modern audience but there's the rental crisis that a lot of people my age are facing, particularly artists my age," Williams says.
"Being told we're never going to own a house is a whole thing that we have to deal with. Also there's the crying out for artists' work to be heard and to matter.
"It's also about community and connection and making today count."
Rent plays at the Civic Theatre from March 15 to 17.
