"Mimi's definitely a girl that everybody cares about because of her vulnerability," says Sengbloh, who called from her hotel room in Springfield, Ill., where "Rent" was playing. "Everybody loves to see how wild she is, but deep down they know she's really vulnerable."

Inspired by Puccini's "La Boheme," the musical "Rent" follows a group of young artists in New York City who are struggling with AIDS, drug addiction, poverty, romantic disappointments and the death of loved ones. The play opened off-Broadway in February 1996—a day after its creator, Jonathan Larson, died unexpectedly of an aortic aneurysm—and moved to Broadway two months later. "Rent" raked in critical acclaim and scads of awards, becoming only the fifth musical ever to win both the Pulitzer Prize and the Tony Award.

Mimi, one of the musical's central characters, falls in love with Roger, an HIV-positive rock musician grieving over the suicide of his girlfriend. Although Sengbloh was intrigued by the role of Mimi, she almost was tapped for another role in the musical. She auditioned for "Rent" at "a big cattle call in Atlanta," her hometown, she says. At her first call-back, "the music I was asked to perform was mostly Joanne's"—a lesbian lawyer who dates the character of Maureen, a performance artist. "But the next time they called me back, they asked me to perform Mimi's music, as well as Joanne's," Sengbloh said. "I was very surprised."

Prior to joining the "Rent" cast in early December 1999, Sengbloh says she studied "what actually goes into living [Mimi's] lifestyle—any roles that I play, I do research on the type of lifestyle they live." The "Rent" characters, she explains, "are dealing with a lot of social obstacles, as far as trying to be themselves and not being judged [because of] who they are."

"A lot of the issues in the play I haven't had to deal with," Sengbloh says. "However, I do relate to the way that people who are artists have a different walk in life. People who aren't artists, who can't relate, can sometimes be harsh and critical because they're not understanding of the life of an artist."

Sengbloh's showbiz credits include "Chess" at the Alliance Theatre Co. and what she calls "the 'Blair Witch' ripoff episode" of "Dawson's Creek" ("I was the kid who had all these theories about witches.") She also has a small part in the upcoming MGM film, "Mary Jane's Last Dance," which she shot in March 1999. Sengbloh describes the movie, which stars Taye Diggs ("The Best Man," "The Wood") and Dominique Swain ("Lolita," "Face/Off"), as "'Heathers' meets 'Clueless.'"

Sengbloh says "Rent" inspires fierce devotion among twentysomethings across the country. "They come after the show and they give us letters and they write on the Internet," she explains. "There's quite a few unofficial websites." Fans of the show—the "true followers," she says—are called "Rentheads."