“Rent” will come to the Fresno State University Theatre as the final production of the 2021-22 season, celebrating the musical’s 25th anniversary.

The rock musical, a Tony Award winner for Best Musical and Pulitzer Prize winner for drama, is widely considered a cultural phenomenon for its impact and innovation, according to director J. Daniel Herring. 

It covers a year in the life of a group of young, struggling artists and musicians in New York’s Lower East Side as the HIV/AIDS epidemic begins to affect the group. 

The play centers around the lead character Mark, an aspiring filmmaker documenting the lives of his friends. He and the rest of his social circle, composed of Roger, Mimi, Tom, Angel, Benny, Maureen and Joanne, each struggle with their own personal and emotional issues. 

Senior theatre arts major Julia Prieto plays the role of Joanne, a wealthier character who chooses to use her privilege to better serve her community, according to Prieto. 

Prieto has been involved in the performing arts since she was 5 years old. Her mother involved her in hopes that Prieto would pick up English, her second language, more easily. Her first part was in “Peter Pan,” for a now defunct organization.

“Performing helped me learn English much faster,” Prieto said. “I have never stopped doing theater since that first production I was in.”

Prieto had been a fan of “Rent” since her best friend introduced it to her in middle school. She said the experience opened her eyes to nontraditional theater that “represented more than just a white, hetero community.”

Alexis Elisa Macedo, a theatre arts major who will be playing Mimi, said she “fell in love with ‘Rent’ from the moment [she] heard it” for similar reasons.

 “[Mimi] was the first Latina/Chicana I had seen taking the Broadway stage. Mimi’s fearlessness, fragility and leopard print boots instantly made her a dream role for me,” she said. “As Mimi, I’m able to represent a community of people forced to walk a tightrope for survival among love, loss and addiction.”

Prieto agreed that the “bright light” “Rent” shed on the experiences of the LGBTQ+ communities and people of color was part of what has made Rent the cultural phenomenon it is widely considered today. 

“[‘Rent’ gave] an incredibly raw representation of what it was like to be gay in the ‘80s during the AIDS epidemic. It also bridged the gap between traditional, Golden Age theatre to new forms of music, allowing younger generations to be seen and heard on a stage,” Prieto said.

Josh Plowman, a senior theatre arts major who will be playing the role of Mark, said that the content of “Rent” ensures that anyone can find some aspect of the characters’ struggle to relate to, and that the use of rock music speaks to a more modern audience, “more than your typical Rodgers and Hammerstein or Stephen Sondheim score.”

“‘Rent’ speaks to anyone who has struggled with addiction, loneliness, loss and disease in an organic and personal way that few Broadway musicals had at the time, and few have matched since,” he said.

Herring said that this representation, combined with the break from typical musical structure, led to the enduring popularity “Rent” has to this day. 

Jonathan Larson, who wrote the book, music and lyrics for “Rent,” tragically passed away the night before the preview performance, which was widely publicized within the theater world, according to Herring. Larson was posthumously acclaimed for the grittiness he brought to theater, which Herring credits as inspiring later creatives such as Lin Manuel Miranda, director of “Hamilton.”

“There are times where I really think about, if he had survived, what would be the kinds of things he would be doing now? Because he certainly was introducing something that was different.” Herring said.

Herring spent 20 years working in a professional theater in Louisville, Kentucky, straight out of graduate school before coming to Fresno State for a university position 15 years ago. He said he’s directed around 23 productions for Fresno State in that time. However, this is the first time in his career that Herring will be directing “Rent.” 

“We were looking for a musical, and it was my time to do a musical at Fresno State, and I decided this was the time for me to do ‘Rent,’” he said.

Herring said he believes that the musical will resonate more strongly with people “coming out of the pandemic.” 

“I really do hope that people will come and celebrate the show, but also all the things that we have been through during this pandemic, and really look at how we treat one another when things like this occur in our world,” Herring said.

Performances begin May 6 through May 14, from May 6 to 7 and 10 to 14, the production will begin at 7:30 p.m., and on Sunday, May 9 at 2 p.m. 

Tickets are $20 for adults, $18 for faculty, staff, alumni and military and $12 for students. Children under 12 are not permitted due to the production being for mature audiences.