❒ Austin Scott nabs role in Diablo Theatre Company’s Stars 2000 showing of ‘Rent,’ opening Friday

By Keri Luiz
Assistant Editor

Austin Scott jokes about his auspicious start in showbiz: At 8, he starred in a Chia Pet commercial.

Now 18, the 2011 Benicia High School graduate and current San Francisco State University freshman hasn’t lost his love of acting — and casting directors haven’t missed the young actor’s stage appeal.

Scott recently landed a co-starring role in the upcoming production of “Rent” by the Diablo Theatre Company’s Stars 2000 Teen Theatre, a pre-professional training troupe for youth ages 13 to 20. Their winter production of “Rent” — the rock opera that tells the story of impoverished young artists and musicians struggling to survive and create in New York’s Lower East Side under the shadow of HIV/AIDS — opens Friday.

Scott plays Roger, a musician who is HIV positive and who has just lost his girlfriend to AIDS. “His one goal in life is to write one great song before he dies, that is, until he unexpectedly falls in love with Mimi,” Scott said.

Scott is well known in Benicia to anyone familiar with the high school’s theater productions: He played Gaston in last year’s staging of “Beauty and the Beast,” and prior to that worked for four years with the Varsity Improv team.

“I was lucky to get on (the improv team) as a freshman and just stayed on as I went up,” he said.

At SFSU, Scott is getting his “basic education,” while “working as much as I can,” including with San Francisco-based Velocity Circus, performing gigs as a character actor a few times a month.

Scott’s film experience extends beyond the Chia Pet commercial, too. “That started me off,” he said, and from there he has had work as extras in major films and some minor roles.

He has worked in independent films, too. “Sometimes they’re for schools. School theater majors would be making films and they’d need actors, some of them were just a little bit higher scale.

“I just love to perform,” he said.

Scott’s love of performance led him to consider moving to New York to pursue a career on Broadway, but “I love film too much to just give up film,” he said. “If I can do both, it would be awesome.” Currently he’s considering a move to Los Angeles to attend the American Musical and Dramatic Academy.

His interests extend to behind the scenes, too: Scott is considering majoring in sound engineering for film.

He said perhaps one day he’ll go straight to the music industry as a sound engineer or a producer.

“I’m actually thinking about opening up my own small private label right now, and seeing if I can get some local artists underneath that,” he said.

“I’m just trying to keep as many doors open as I can, until I’m forced to close one.”

If You Go
“Rent” is showing at the Las Lomas High School Theatre, 1460 South Main St., Walnut Creek starting Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m.; Jan. 20-21 at 8 p.m.; Jan 22 at 2:30 p.m.; and Jan. 26-28 and 8 p.m. For tickets call 925-324-7359. Ticket prices range from $15 for students with a student ID and seniors to $17 for adults.