On Tuesday evening, hundreds of eager students gathered in the Skutt Student Center to welcome actor and singer Anthony Rapp, who is best known for originating the role of Mark Cohen in the iconic 1996 Broadway musical sensation “RENT.”

The Creighton Students Union Program Board, along with Creighton’s Gay-Straight Alliance, sponsored the two-hour event, which was organized to familiarize students with the offstage side of Rapp, while also raising awareness about issues like homosexuality and AIDS.

“Each year, CSU Program Board strives to bring diversity events that inform and educate students on important, relevant issues,” said Eric Juszyk, an Arts & Sciences junior and the CSU vice president for programming.

Rapp has become a prominent spokesperson on diversity and social justice within the New York theater community and throughout the world. Arts & Sciences sophomore Carli Haney, the CSU Program Board Creighton in Common coordinator, said she chose Rapp as a speaker because his message would appeal to so many different students.

“I chose Anthony to come to campus because of how truly diverse he is,” Haney said. “I really felt like he could–and he did–bring an entirely new audience together on campus and share a story that few know about.”

Approximately 300 people attended the event to listen to Rapp’s honest discussion about his rise to fame in “RENT” in the mid-1990s and the struggles he has endured over the span of his successful career. His recent autobiography, “Without You: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and the Musical RENT,” exposed a side of Rapp that many of his fans had not seen of the actor before.

After the success of his memoir, Rapp decided to create a one-man show of the same name. He opened on Monday at the TBG Theatre in New York, and the show has given him the opportunity to attach emotion and another element of creativity to his life story.

He credits his mother’s battle with cancer and the unexpected death of the writer of “RENT,” Jonathan Larson, with opening his eyes to the value and unpredictability of life. Rapp and the rest of the cast performed a sing-through right before “RENT” began previews, in honor of their creative counterpart and good friend Larson. Larson’s parents were in the audience that evening.

“We found it in our hearts to just let it all go,” Rapp said about the emotional sing-through. “We had to do whatever we could to keep [Mr. Larson’s] son alive, and we did.”

Rapp has since harnessed the power of music to promote other causes as well, many of which relate to the same issues addressed in “RENT.” He is a strong advocate for GLBT rights and has been involved with the Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS organization. He said that “RENT” was a revolutionary musical since it provided a different perspective on social issues and “reflected life back to people.”

One of the biggest cultural shifts he has witnessed since the show first brightened the Broadway stage is the attitude toward AIDS survival. A diagnosis of AIDS, he said, is no longer a death sentence for people, and they still have the potential to live full and meaningful lives.

“It’s about living in the face of death,” Rapp said. “It’s not denying it or ignoring it. It’s living in the face of it.”