It was a fitting way for Art House Productions (345 Marin Blvd.) to celebrate a quarter-century of operation: with music, dancing, jokes, high-spiritedness, and a story about desperate young people determined to leave a mark on an indifferent world. It felt right that an arts institution founded in 2001 should pick a show associated with the very late 1990s. The theater moved around town for years before finding a permanent place in the Powerhouse Arts District. Themes of impermanence, economic uncertainty, perseverance in the face of obstacles, artistic integrity, and the imperative to create something beautiful right now, today, since tomorrow is never a given. To the Art House staff, all of those must have felt like coming home.Yes, it had to be Rent. Nothing else would have suited this milestone birthday party. The 1996 musical, which will run at Art House Productions until October 18, is often remembered for its unusually frank treatment of its tragic elements, including poverty, homelessness, violence, drug addiction, HIV, and AIDS. ...read more read less