‘Rent’-Inspired Teen Wins Trip to Nagano

The Tony Award- and Pulitzer Prize-winning musical “Rent,” written by American playwright Jonathan Larson, who died on the night of its off-Broadway premiere, was a source of inspiration for eighth-grade honors student Philip Tanedo of Tarzana’s Portola Middle School.

Shortly after seeing the musical during its Los Angeles engagement last fall, Philip created a drawing that will take him and his mother, Priscilla, on an all-expenses-paid trip to the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. The trip will begin Tuesday.

Philip, 13, student body vice president at the Tarzana magnet school, is one of 25 winners worldwide, including three in the United States, in the VISA Olympics of the Imagination poster essay contest. Participants were required to create an illustration tying an Olympic event to someone who inspired them and to write a short essay.

“This would be my first Olympics, period,” Philip said. “I’m looking forward to having a good time and getting away from all my homework.”

His prize-winning drawing is a caricature of Larson skating down an incline holding a large pencil with the American flag shooting out of the tip.

In explaining his creative process, Philip said: “Figure skating is the sport most representative of Jonathan Larson. He is an artistic person, and the most artistic Winter Olympic sport is figure skating. I just went from there.”

In his essay, Philip described Larson as a person who “overcame poverty and hardship.”

Portola’s visual arts teacher, Alice Cheng, referred to Philip as a “junior Renaissance man.”

“Philip is good in all disciplines,” Cheng said. “He’s just very well-rounded and sets very high expectations for himself in every subject.”