BWW Interviews: Debut of the Month - IT'S ONLY A PLAY's Micah Stock

Micah Stock is making his Broadway debut as 'coat check guy' Gus P. Head in the comedy IT'S ONLY A PLAY, written by four-time Tony winner Terrence McNally. The actor joins a hilarious ensemble cast featuring Matthew Broderick, Nathan Lane, F. Murray Abraham, Stockard Channing, Megan Mullally and Rupert Grint in the show which celebrates theatre at its best...and theatre people behaving their not-so-best.

Today, the actor speaks exclusively with BWW about making his Broadway debut as a character who sees the world through rose-colored glasses.

I loved the show Micah and it seems like it must be so much fun to do every night.

It is! It's actually a blast. And we're just really happy with the way audiences have been responding to it. We've had really warm audiences.

How did your casting come about?

I worked with Terrence [McNally] about a year ago on a new play of his called, 'And Away We Go,' that we did at the Pearl, and we established a really positive working relationship during that process and a mutual admiration. So I think when this came about, Terrence wanted me to do it and [director] Jack O'Brien and Nathan Lane had also seen the production and so I was lucky that I also had their weight thrown behind me as well. And that's how it happened.

Were you familiar with this particular McNally play before you were cast?

I was not familiar with this play actually. I was familiar with much of Terrence's canon, certainly prior to working with him even last year, but this one wasn't on my radar, so when Terrence brought it up in the spring he sent me his version and I picked up previous versions of it as a point of comparison. And he really has done a complete rework of it, it's a very different play than it was when it was first written.

Yes, I wanted to ask you about that because it is a revival yet it was so topical, even mentioning current news stories and celebrities who have been in the news. Is this going to be an evolving script throughout the run as new things crop up?

I don't think that that is part of the plan so to speak. I do know that Terrence is sort of constantly thinking about it even after previews began, and I don't know that that won't happen, but I don't think that's necessarily part of the plan. I think they'll freeze it once we open.

Along those lines, I read that Barbra Streisand attended a recent performance and she actually thought the line about her was added just for her benefit that night.

Yeah, I think if we started changing the play based on who was in the audience each night things may get a little crazy!

In the show, you play an actor who is at the very beginning of his career. When you think back to the time

when you were just starting out, can you identify with him in any way?

I do. I think that there is a part of him that lies in every young actor who comes to New York, which is whenever you are faced with a situation that you always dreamed of, where you sort of just can't believe it, and you want to believe that everyone around you is kind and wonderful and just sees butterflies coming out of everyone's mouth. And though that's not so much a part of my experience as an actor out in the world, I sort of just let that part of me take over and it's fun to do because he's a kind-hearted soul. I think one of his functions in the play is that he reminds all of those bitter, cynical people that this is still the thing that makes some people the happiest in their life. So he's up there reminding them that it's not all about reviews and who you know, it's about the doing of the thing.

I agree. He's still in that innocent, I guess you could say, naive phase of his career, which is very refreshing.

You're right. Actually you could say that his career begins in the play. I don't know if he had any career to speak of prior to that moment. He grew up on a farm and his only connection to these famous people is through the internet and videos he's watched and maybe through that one drama teacher from his hometown in whatever state in the middle of the country he is from, so he sees the world through rose-colored glasses, there's no doubt.

I wanted to ask you about the cast that you're working with, which features arguably some of the greatest stage actors of our time. What has that experience been like and what have you learned from them?

It's been a totally wonderful and fruitful experience. They're all so different and their careers have been so different, so I sort of just enter the whole process saying, 'ok, I just need to be a sponge here and learn as much as possible and listen as much as possible,' because they're all masters of totally different things, and have totally different processes. And that goes for Terrence and the entire creative crew as well. These are all people working at the top of their game who have taken very different paths to get there. And I think the greatest gift they gave me was to immediately treat me like an equal and a colleague so that I felt comfortable to do the work that I needed to do and make sure we look like an ensemble up there. And everyone did that for me and I'm very appreciative.

And not only are they some of the funniest people on the planet, they're some of the most generous. I remember at the first preview I was sort of, I don't think I had stage fright or was super-anxious but I got out there and the response from that room was astounding. I mean people were roaring and it was a size of energy that I had never encountered before. So I had that two-second long talk with myself saying. 'just keep looking at Nathan and it will help you get to where you need to go.' Because if I thought for one second, 'oh, they're loving it, this is hysterical', the whole thing would have fallen apart. And so that is what I do every night now, when I'm starting to feel overwhelmed by anything I just look Nathan in the eye and I feel very well taken care of on stage.

The show makes a statement on the current state of American theater and I was wondering if you agree that it is as, for lack of a better word, bleak as the play implies.

Well the truth is, my career up until now has been made in downtown and regional theater, where I've been very lucky to work on new plays by young, American writers. And so on a personal level, my experience has been very positive with this original, exciting material. I'd say I agree with more of the heart of what Terrence is saying, which is, it's okay to have all these things, there's nothing wrong with a Disney musical, there's nothing wrong with plays from London. They are all wonderful things and that's why people want to see them. But we also need to make room for those important conversations. In the play Terrence talked about 'A Streetcar Named Desire' and even now you read about that production and how it changed people's lives, they finally saw themselves on stage and they saw an important conversation about what it means to be humans trying to carve out something beautiful on the planet together. And I think what he's saying more is that we need to keep the space open for that and not push everything else out.

Yes, I do agree. You touched on this a little before, but can you share what it has it been like to make your Broadway debut in this show?

Well, it's sort of constantly evolving, it's a constant series of firsts. You know it's funny, on the first preview, I was getting all these texts and these great messages saying, 'your Broadway debut is tonight,' and I kept thinking that from day one of when I got the job through rehearsals through previews, it has truly all been a series of firsts, of things I've never gotten to do before. And that continues to happen. So I feel just very lucky that l get to do these new and exciting things that I never got to do before every single day.

For example, I was so excited about the Broadway Flea Market, I was just thinking, oh, this is something I get to be a part of now. And that's just as much of a mile marker for me as anything else.

It must be surreal.

It is, it's surreal but it's wonderful. I feel very lucky.

About Micah Stock:

Micah Stocke's Off-Broadway credits include theWorld Premiere of Terrence McNally's And Away We Go (The Pearl). Regional credits include Sundance Theatre Lab, Actors Theatre of Louisville's Humana Festival, Long Wharf Theatre and the Williamstown Theatre Festival.

In film he has appeared in King Kelly(Official Selection: SXSW, Puchon Film Festivals). TV credits include "Pan Am", "Law & Order: SVU", and a recurring role on NBC's "Deception". Stock has received a BFA from SUNY Purchase Conservatory.

IT'S ONLY A PLAY is now playing for a limited engagement for 18 weeks only at Broadway's Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, 236 West 45th Street.

For tickets and more information visit: itsonlyaplay.com

About the show:

It's opening night of Peter Austin's (Matthew Broderick) new play as he anxiously awaits to see if his show is a hit. With his career on the line, he shares his big First Night with his "best" friend, a television star (Nathan Lane), his novice producer (Megan Mullally), his doped-up diva (Stockard Channing), his genius director (Rupert Grint), a lethal drama critic (F. Murray Abraham), and a fresh-off-the-bus coat check attendant (Micah Stock) on his first night in Manhattan.

It's alternately raucous, ridiculous and tender-and proves that sometimes the biggest laughs happen offstage.

Photo credit: Joan Marcus