By Randi Bjornstad

If the plot of RENT, onstage now at Actors Cabaret in downtown Eugene, sounds rather operatic, there’s a good reason. The story line does resemble that of La Boheme, one of Giacomo Puccini’s most famous and popular operas, written in 1896 and still a staple of opera companies around the globe.

But beyond that, it’s really a timeless idea, a story about a bunch of young people banding together, trying to make enough money to live in the epicenter of culture as they seek to create satisfying lives for themselves.

Not Italy as in Puccini’s rendition, but this time in New York City’s East Village neighborhood, just south of Midtown Manhattan’s Theater District where dreams of Broadway success are dreamt, for many crushed, and for a very few, realized.

RENT, its story set in the 1980s, opened on Broadway in 1996, where it found instant success. It won four Tony awards and a Pulitzer Prize and ran for a decade.

Perhaps most poignant of all is the story of the play’s creator, and the way the arc of his life followed that of his creation. Jonathan Larson worked on RENT for seven years, all that time living in poverty, making his way waiting tables, as so many would-be Broadway stars have done. Just as his star was about to shine, Larson died suddenly, just 10 days shy of his 36th birthday and the very day before the off-Broadway opening of his show, a one-man venture for which he created music, lyrics, and book, aka story. The cause was an often-silent killer, aortic aneurysm.

Actors Cabaret takes its 16-member cast to the stage under the direction of Michael P Watkins. The players include Matt Arscott, Marley Baker, Zoe Banuelos, Gene Chin, Josh Cole, Ryan Delieu, Eve, Ethan Kemper, Sarah Landstrom, Jonathan Matthews, Cody Mendonca, India Potter, Christopher Ridgley, Amy Robbins, Emilia Rordon, and Brittanie Sorensen.

RENT at Actors Cabaret of Eugene

When: 7:30 p.m. on June 16-17, 23-24 and 30, July 1 and 7-8; and 2 p.m. Sunday matinees on June 18 and 25; doors open 90 minutes before showtime for meal-and-show ticketholders

Where: Actors Cabaret of Eugene, 996 Willamette St., Eugene

Tickets: Available by telephone 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday at 541-683-4368 or online at actorscabaret.org/tickets

Prices: $19/$27/$30 for show only; $55/$60 dinner and show, depending on menu selection; $53/$55 for brunch and show, depending on menu selection