THERE'S A NEW CAT IN TOWN JENNIFER MUDGE MAKES HER L.A. DEBUT - SLIP, NYLONS AND ALL.

Byline: Evan Henerson Theater Writer

Sometimes it helps to have fate - and Sharon Lawrence - covering your back.

Rehearsals were nearing for the Geffen Playhouse's revival of ``Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,'' and producing director Gil Cates had his roof, his whole foundation, but no Maggie the Cat. Since the sultry Maggie anchors the play, this presented a problem.

``We probably auditioned literally 30 women and went over tapes of many others,'' recalls Cates. ``Tennessee Williams indicates that she's 27 years old. A lot of older women have played Maggie in various productions, and I don't think that's right. It's a question of finding a young actress for a bitch of a part.''

Enter Geffen Playhouse alum Lawrence - who had worked with Cates in two previous Geffen productions - with a suggestion: Jennifer Mudge. The New York-based actress had acted with Lawrence in ``No Time for Comedy'' at the Bay Street Theatre in Sag Harbor.

Mudge, who was working in another play and couldn't audition in person, sent in a tape. Cates liked it. They met for breakfast in New York, and the puzzle had its final piece. And a big piece it was. Not only does Maggie talk practically uninterrupted for about the first seven pages of the first act, but the actress playing her at the Geffen would have to go toe to toe with John Goodman and Brenda Fricker.

``The show Sharon and I met on, she wasn't even supposed to be in,''

says Mudge. ``It was one of those right place, right times, I happened to know somebody who knew somebody.''

``Sharon's from the South, and my mom is from the South. There were things about me that she saw as fitting for Maggie,'' Mudge continues. ``But I'm not catty. That's not true.''

She's also not a Southerner, having grown up in Cumberland, R.I., and trained at Trinity Repertory Theatre in Providence. The self-described ``small-town girl,'' Mudge (her real name) is making her L.A. debut with ``Cat'' and spending her first extended time as an adult in L.A.

A couple of minor earthquake rumbles behind her, and with easy proximity to Westwood, Venice and Beverly Hills, she still feels spoiled.

``In New York, you step outside, you're right on Fifth Avenue, and there's the lights and the traffic, the honking and the pollution,'' says Mudge. ``In Beverly Hills, you have these little cobbled streets, and it's like, 'Where is everyone?' I feel like I'm in a movie all the time.''

The daughter of an engineer, Mudge caught the acting bug at age 9, auditioning for a role in - what else? - ``The Wizard of Oz.'' She arrived with a song from the musical ``Annie,'' played a Munchkin and never looked back. School plays and community theater followed, with Mudge electing to stay close to home for her formal training.

She understudied Mary-Louise Parker in Craig Lucas' play ``Reckless'' on Broadway and has appeared in ``Rose's Dilemma'' at the Manhattan Theatre Club and ``The Stendahl Syndrome'' at Primary Stages. She has roles in the upcoming independent films ``Play It by Ear'' and ``Drifting Elegant.''

In donning Maggie's slip and nylons, Mudge knows she's joining a fairly impressive lineup of past Cats. The role of the formerly dirt-poor Maggie, looking to entice her dissolute husband, Brick, to impregnate her and produce an heir to the family fortune, has been played by Barbara Bel Geddes, Elizabeth Ashley, Kathleen Turner, Jessica Lange and Elizabeth Taylor (the latter in the film). Mary Stuart Masterson and Ashley Judd most recently played Maggie in a pair of revivals.

Mudge had never seen the play or the movie prior to taking the role, although she had met previous Maggies Masterson and Christine Lahti. She also recalls a friend discussing Kathleen Turner's Broadway debut in the role in 1990.

``He said, 'Oh my God, the way she put on and took off nylons is unbelievable!' I cannot forget that,'' says Mudge. ``And she has to take off the nylons because it's either that or you go around in stocking feet for the first act and kill yourself. If I could meet her, that's the one question I'd ask her. Nothing deep. Just tell me what you did with those nylons.''

Undergarment-related questions aside, Mudge has come not only to like her character, but to admire her as well.

``By the end of the play, I can't believe what she's said, what she's done, and (that) she's going to make it true,'' says Mudge. ``She's someone who came from nothing and is not afraid of hard work and of stepping in there and claiming what she wants. And I love that about her.''

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no caption (Jennifer Mudge)