For a New Generation, RENT Still Feels Radical

When the musical RENT debuted in 1996, it was a riotous and revolutionary wake-up call, centering the lives of people of color, queer artists and people living with HIV in Manhattan’s derelict East Village. Jonathan Larson, the show’s creator, lived in a no-heat fourth-floor walk-up on Greenwich Street and died suddenly from an aortic dissection the night before RENT’s Off-Broadway debut.

Despite its gritty subject matter, RENT became a massive commercial success. The musical went on to become one of the longest-running shows on Broadway, grossing more than $280 million and spawning national tours and a 2005 film adaptation. Yet even as complex queer stories have gained visibility, the daily lives of queer Americans remain shaped by discrimination and political backlash.

Chris Chavez, director of RENT at Mesa Encore Theatre, aims to confront those themes head-on in the company’s current production. Chavez, who previously directed Angels in America at Fountain Hills Theater, frames the musical as the story of outsiders building community and fighting for human rights through radical art.

Thirty years after RENT’s debut, Chavez and his largely young cast are exploring what the musical means in today’s political climate.

What can modern audiences learn about resistance from a show created in an era when queer people were still fighting for visibility and survival? In Arizona, lawmakers have repeatedly failed to pass statewide nondiscrimination protections that would prohibit businesses from denying services, including housing, to LGBTQ+ people. Meanwhile, rent in the East Village — where the musical is set — has more than quadrupled since the mid-1990s, making the neighborhood inaccessible for many struggling artists and queer people today.

LOOKOUT writer Royal Young spoke with Chavez about RENT’s legacy, the state of queer rights 30 years later, and why the musical remains a spark for activism and chosen family.

Royal Young: Did you have a personal journey that led you to directing RENT?

Chris Chavez: When Mesa Encore Theatre put out a call for directors, I applied. My vision for the show was to treat RENT as an ongoing act of political resistance. Theater itself is a radical tool for visibility and collective defiance. Today, marginalized communities — particularly people of color, queer and trans people, and people living with HIV who still face stigma — are still being silenced in 2026. RENT speaks directly to that, and I see it as a call to action.

I feel like this production extends beyond the stage and into the real world. As a queer Chicano growing up in the Southwest, I always knew about the show, but I didn’t necessarily understand the impact it had in larger cities.

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LOOKOUTRoyal Young (they/them)

RY: What does RENT in Phoenix in 2026 bring that feels updated or unique compared with the original production in downtown New York?

CC: It’s been a really cool journey. Most of my actors are in their 20s or early 30s, so they didn’t grow up when the show first came out. RENT is now such a musical theater staple that they know it, but it’s been incredible educating them about the time period — what the AIDS crisis was really about, how far we’ve come and how far we still have to go. Watching them learn has been amazing.

RY: I’d love to rewind to 1996. I grew up in downtown Manhattan, and I remember seeing RENT with my dad when I was about 11. As a nonbinary kid who didn’t yet have language for who I was, seeing that spectrum of queerness onstage was shocking in the best way. What was your experience growing up as a queer Chicano in the Southwest?

CC: I was in college when I first started reading about this new musical, RENT, in magazines. I randomly picked up the original cast recording at a mall record store and became obsessed with it. Later that year, our college theater program traveled to Texas, and I realized the RENT tour was stopping in Dallas. We drove an hour to see it in 1997.

At the time, I wasn’t fully out. It was the first time I had seen queer people of color onstage, along with a gritty realism you never really saw in musical theater before. To this day, it influences the kinds of shows I want to direct.

RY: How much has changed for queer people in the past 30 years? How much has changed for poor artists? I grew up in the neighborhood where RENT takes place, and now I can’t afford to live there anymore. Rent is literally still screwing us. The show carries a very real message about surviving and paying your bills. For trans, nonbinary and queer people of color, the more marginalized identities you hold, the harder it can be just to survive.

CC: I agree. Gentrification is far worse than it was 30 years ago. One criticism people have today is the title song, “Rent,” because they think it sounds entitled. What they don’t understand is the history behind it — queer people being pushed out of housing, or losing apartments after partners died of AIDS because they weren’t legally recognized as family. It’s a protest song.

RY: RENT reminds audiences that everyone deserves basic human rights — housing, food and access to medicine — because the story hinges on people not having heat or medication. That’s still a reality for many people.

CC: Absolutely. At the time RENT was written, AZT — the first FDA-approved HIV treatment — was still relatively new. Those medications cost thousands of dollars, which is one reason the characters are struggling financially. Access has improved, but affordability is still an issue.

RY: There’s also been a resurgence of attacks on queer rights, especially targeting trans and nonbinary people. But what has changed for the better? I think we now have more language to describe the queer spectrum, and our community has grown. We still face persecution, but we always have.

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CC: Every queer generation has its battles. Previous generations had Stonewall and the AIDS crisis. Now we’re dealing with the current political climate. It’s the same story in a different place and time. But we also have more access to medication, stronger community networks and more openness around identity. RENT speaks to the importance of identity and chosen family.

RY: Do you think finding identity and chosen family can be an antidote to the times we’re living through?

CC: Absolutely. Every character in the show comes from a different background, but what connects them is their art. Living in difficult conditions also bonds them together. Artists are often treated like outsiders or black sheep, but we’re fighting many of the same battles. Creating together is what unites us. In difficult times, community is what saves us. That’s why this show still resonates.