NR: As an understudy, how much rehearsal time do you get?

MM: For me, especially early on, when I was understudying Terry, it was once a week, or every other week. They had 2 or 3 at the time I came in (Mark joined the cast in March, 1998). Then one guy left and it was just myself and Eric Bennyhoff so they would trade off so it was every other week really. If you were chosen to go on they might juggle that so you'd get a rehearsal if there's time to do that. But it's usually every other week.

NR: How much are you allowed to make that character your own and how much are you told to imitate the other person who's playing it?

MM: That's one of the great things that I've had. First of all, working with Steve Beckler, who's the production supervisor, and was the stage manager before Bonnie took over. When I first came in and they hired me to do this, I can't tell you the relief I felt when Steve said, "You don't have to be a Terry Mann clone. I want you to come with your ideas and bring what you can. Of course you have to work within the framework of the staging and you can't be so off that the other characters can't portray their characters in a bona fide way." So, with those parameters, knowing that I had the freedom to create moments for myself that didn't have to be like Terry's, I was...again, like a kid, "Yay, OK." And Steve was great to work with and he was almost as enthusiastic as I was about working on the scene work. He let me come up with some nice things. So I felt very grateful for that. I got a lot of freedom.

When I started working with Bobby Longbottom, he pretty much let me continue doing what I've been doing, what I established. He pointed out some things that he wanted me to do so I made adjustments for that.

NR: I was going to ask you about that. Now you have a different script, a different director and a different actor to understudy...

MM: Yeah, again my concern was "OK, now this is a different thing. How much is Bobby going to want me to change?" Because a lot of the things can still remain the same. A lot of the basic motivations are still the same. There are some slight differences in dialogue but not that much, some changes in scene. But Bobby let me...our first rehearsal he hardly said anything to me when I got finished with the scene. He went "OK, let's go on to the next one." Of course if he wanted to talk about something he'd stop and he'd say, "I want you to try this. I don't want you to do this. This doesn't read for me." So, I would say, "How about if I do this?" and he would say, "OK."

NR: Really? He was working with you separately? He wasn't saying, "Look what Rex is doing?"

MM: No. He has never said, "This is what Rex is doing."

NR: Does Eric do the same thing? He does this on his own?

MM: I believe so, yes. And there's also Tom Zemon who's going to be doing the second half of Rex's vacation. I've talked to him and apparently that's the way Bobby's been with him. He's been allowed to bring some of the things that he wants to bring to it. There are certain parameters that you've got to stay within. But, overall, there's freedom, but it's a stricter kind of freedom. Bobby Longbottom has a specific vision for this show and it's a lot stricter. I don't mean that in a negative sense either -- I mean it is a precise and clear vision. I'm sure Doug's told you. And I was telling Doug that, because he established so much of his own freedom within his portrayal of Percy Blakeney before Bobby came in with his more specific parameters, Doug (as Sir Percy) still looks free. If I was an audience member not knowing what I was seeing when I walked in, I wouldn't notice anything different with Doug's portrayal.

NR: To me, your Chauvelin seems to be halfway between Rex and Terry. Rex seems a little fiercer and Terry had that comedic aspect which you've kept a little of.

MM: Yes, I've tried because I want to bring those three dimensions. I want you to look at me and love to hate me. I want you to look at me when I sing "Where's the Girl" and I pick up the scarf...it's my trophy. I want you to know "This is mine, I'll be back." You know, I want to play that stuff, but then explode. I think Chauvelin is a manic character. He has been corrupted by the power that he's achieved. He has become one of the things that he hated but he doesn't know that. He's self-deluded. He is like a "Hitler figure." And he thinks that everything he's doing is for the right. That's the whole opening number. "Madame Guillotine" is "I am doing the right thing. I am cleansing. I am getting rid of the scum of the earth that oppressed me." And he takes a certain joy in that, but there's also a sadistic side of him. He loves to toy with people. He loves to toy with Marguerite. He loves to manipulate. It's all a power struggle. "You take power, I take it away from you."

NR: Someone asked if you're called upon to play Chauvelin on short notice, how do you mentally prepare if you've just played a character sentenced to death by him a few hours earlier? Especially if Rex gets sick and you have little warning. How do you mentally switch characters?

MM: Well, I've rehearsed the role a lot. And, there's so much more to doing a Chauvelin than doing a St. Cyr. Not to say that St. Cyr's nothing to do, but it is a lot easier to do than a Chauvelin. You know what I do? I go back to my homework. I go back to the homework that I did. If someone says, "OK, Mark, you're doing Chauvelin tonight" immediately my mind goes to "First scene - What was the homework that I did? What was the motivation?" I hate to sound "method" but " How does the first scene begin?" One of the best acting instructors told me, and I love what Doug said to you about "being" the character. You don't get on stage and try to show me anything. Get on stage and be the character. So, if you do your homework as an actor, and you've learned how to be the character, then by the time you step into that first scene, and you know why you've walked into it, and who you are as the character, the rest of the play happens to you. You should allow the rest of the play to happen to you, and trust the homework that you've done. For the most part it does. You have to concentrate, sure. I had an acting instructor say to me, "You learn everything. You do all your homework and then when you get on stage, let it go. Forget it. Let it happen to you now and trust that the homework will come out of you."

NR: Have you heard any talk of a tour and would that interest you?

MM: Well, there are always rumors. And, yes, it would interest me.

Interview conducted and photographs by Nancy Rosati.