by Frank Magiera
The Telegram/Gazette
April 13, 2001

They're all in their 20s and they live on the edge in New York City.

They're aspiring filmmakers, artists and performers. Many of them are HIV-positive. Some are drag queens and junkies and not particularly fussy in regard to their sexual preferences.

These are, of course, the characters in the musical, "Rent," which is currently having its third run in Boston, this time at the Wang Theatre. The show, an updated version of Puccini's opera, "La Boheme," often attributes its unique vitality to the fact that many of the actors really come from the same atmosphere they create on stage.

Enter Mark Richard Ford, a 32-year-old accountant from Atlanta.

No, Mr. Ford doesn't do the show's books. He is, in fact, a prominent member of the cast.

Mr. Ford plays Tom Collins, an HIV-positive, computer-age philosophy teacher who falls in love with an HIV-positive drag queen and street musician.

"I never wanted to become the starving artist kind of person," Mr. Ford said. "So I got my degree in accounting." But he got the theater bug much earlier.

Mr. Ford recalls that when he was about 10 years old and growing up in Chicago, his parents offered his services to a community theater production of "Raisin in the Sun." A few years went by before he returned to the stage in a high school play.

When he entered Morehouse College in Atlanta, however, Mr. Ford decided to take acting more seriously. He acted in college productions and sang in the college glee club. When he graduated he remained in Atlanta, taking a day job as an accountant and night roles in local regional and community theaters.

"Atlanta is definitely a far cry from New York, but most places are," said Mr. Ford. "There are some talented people there who are doing a lot of fantastic original work. But I found it hard to make a living at it there."

Mr. Ford happened to be working in a short-lived off-Broadway show when he first heard about "Rent." He never got to see the show, but people told him he would be perfect in it. There were no auditions for the show in New York, so he returned to the balance sheets in Atlanta.

A week later he noticed an advertisement announcing that the national company of "Rent" was coming to Atlanta and would be holding auditions for local actors.

"I thought, this is my call. I'm supposed to do it."

He was right. Mr. Ford was the only actor cast from the Atlanta auditions and was invited to join the cast of the newly organized Australian company. He spent the next year performing in Australia and then moved to his current touring company last June.

Although many cast members are now older actors playing younger characters, and other modern musicals have appeared in the wake of "Rent," Mr. Ford does not believe that the show has lost any of its edge.

"The subject matter is not so shocking as it was seven years ago," he said. "But it still deals with very real and very current subjects that are not just the concern of young people. Everybody seems to know people who are HIV positive or addicted to drugs and even people who are just struggling to become artists." Although he conceded that his personal life is not reflected much in the story of "Rent," he said he has known people who have died from AIDS, including his brother.

"Also, a lot of us in this production have done it before and we're very familiar with our characters. So maybe we're finding new and deeper stuff for people to enjoy."