by Blake Davis

For nearly the entire first act of the Broadway play RENT, the show’s characters one by one begin to mention another character: Maureen. She’s unreliable, she’s late, she’s a manipulator, she’s a tease, she’s crazy, she’s absolutely maddening, but you’ve got to love her. When she snaps her fingers, most people still come running anyway. She’s, well, she’s … Maureen.

Nobody in the audience has seen her yet, but all of the characters keep talking about her, and about her latest stunt: a protest she’s staging against the eviction of the homeless to make way for a new shrine to opulence called CyberArts. She’s the wild child of the young group of struggling artists and musicians and filmmakers that populate the East Village of RENT. She’s the sexy, leather-pant wearing, scream-from-the-rooftop performance artist with an ego as loud as her opinions. There’s even a song devoted to her: The Tango Maureen.

Nearly an hour of the play goes by, building and building, and still no appearance by Maureen. But then another song ends and the lights go down and the whole theater is shrouded in pitch blackness and silence for the first time since the show began, and out comes a blond – with a cow bell. She flails and dances, gyrating her body with every hilarious word spoken, using a microphone for dramatic echoing effect on some words, then begins to moo like a cow and clang the bell and pretend to drink milk from a giant udder suspended in the air above her. She makes it a tease, a dance, a defiant and ridiculous statement that is so funny that she has the audience on their knees they are laughing so hard. A scene later, she drops her pants.

She’s Maureen, the unchained, exuberant spirit of the play itself. She’s the effect RENT has had on modern theater: the rebel play that threw out all of the rules and reinvented and reinvigorated Broadway for a whole generation. She's a triumphant yell, a primal scream for change, and the piece of Jonathan Larson, the show's creator, that busted through the system on the sheer conviction of his giant dreams. She might not be the heart or the soul of the play, but she’s what makes it hot.

Her wonderful duet, Take Me or Leave Me is the biggest jolt of energy in the play. "Take me for what I am/ who I was meant to be/ And if you give a damn/ Take me baby, or leave me". The words are yelled at each other, like an argument, and Maureen’s voice makes it a battle cry and a mission statement. It’s a song that’s all voice. Forget the instruments. It comes right from the heart and out through the vocal cords, and it’s the only thing you can hear. It’s Jonathan Larson. It’s Maureen. It’s the actress. It’s one of those moments when all three fuse and you understand what makes RENT so special, such a phenomenon, and such a success.

Leigh Hetherington, the 21 year-old voice of Maureen, the blond haired actress from Edmond, the one who got the role at a last minute audition during finals week at the University of Southern California last summer, the one who performs 8 shows a week, the one with the smile and those eyes and that voice, is feeling much better, finally. Maureen has taken her on a tough road.

It was her voice that easily won her the role, but after only a month of performances in Los Angeles, she began to have problems with it. The result was a medical leave that got longer and longer until she wasn’t sure anymore about her future with the show. Even now, trying to fight off a stomach virus while still performing 5 shows over a single weekend, she stands out in the cold after the show laughing about it. "You know, this has been such an exciting and rewarding experience, but sometimes I just get really tired" she said.

"Before this happened, I was just this normal college student doing normal college student things, going to normal college student parties" she added. "But everything with this role happened so fast that I don’t think I had enough time to really prepare for what it was going to take to do this. Your voice is like any other muscle. It can get out of shape, and I don’t think it was ready for the demand this role made.

"When this first happened, it was very disorienting and scary to be given this dream and then have it taken away and not be able to really do anything about it. I’ve spent most of my life working at becoming a strong performer and a strong person, and then to all of a sudden be given an opportunity like RENT and not have my voice be there was scary. I had to confront one of my deepest fears.

"For a while it was really lonely, because at USC in the drama department there’s a lot of jealousy. I don’t know why people are like this, but they really do love to see other people fail. I don’t understand it. They saw me as someone who couldn’t cut it, and to know that has a way of making you feel very lonely. To face that on top of all of your own thoughts was kind of overwhelming.

"I remember taking long walks by myself each day on Venice Beach, which is a very colorful place. I would get into these long conversations with complete strangers, odd people, and all of these artists. The more I talked to them, the more I realized most of them were a lot like me. They were all struggling with things like I was. These strangers and artists had this way of restoring my faith in people.

"I went and volunteered at AIDS Project LA, which does a lot of work with children, and it pulled me completely out of myself. It was a life changing experience. It reminded me of our great instincts to give and to love. It was this wonderful spiritual experience.

"I also discovered a lot of really good friends again. Being alone and going through all of this had this way of showing me the people who would be there in my life no matter what. I discovered my parents again, who I realized are really great friends, not just my parents. It made my definition of what a soul mate was much bigger.

"I have these two tattoos on my back. One is on each side. They are Chinese symbols. One means strength, and the other means peace. They have a lot to do with what I struggle with as an artist. I think that’s what’s so hard for creative people. It’s about finding that perfect balance that’s also personal to you. I think for young people doing this it’s even harder. You’ve got to go through a lot of hard stuff to find it. You tend to tell yourself you’re doing everything wrong because you’re struggling, but you’re not. It’s a part of it. You have to struggle sometimes to find that balance.

How exactly does that affect Maureen? "Well, she’s me and I’m her, so we’re also working at finding our balance. She’s taught me a lot about myself. I also have a fun, crazy side, and she’s brought that out in me. I’ve also found out that I’m funny, that I can make people laugh, and that I have comic timing, which is what comedy is about. It’s cool to see that.

"We seem to be blending in very interesting ways. My thoughts and my words remind me more of Maureen the longer I do this role, and she becomes a little bit more me each performance also. I’m getting very attached to her. I think we’re both finding our voice more and more. I’m seeing myself get stronger each week.

"Taking a 3 month medical leave was an incredibly scary thing to go through, but actually, right now the thought of not having gone through it scares me more. I have learned so much about myself and come so far because of it, and I’m thankful for that. I guess being 21 is kind of like that. It’s my age right now. It’s an age of personal discovery. To have RENT as an influence has been amazing. I can’t imagine being who I am without it.

"I was talking on the phone to my mom the other day, and she told me something. She said, "You’ve grown years since you started the show."