Michael Mergo was unsure of a college major until a career-placement test at Penn State Wilkes-Barre suggested acting. He decided to give it a try, landing a role in a Bracken Theatre Company production a week later. From there, he moved on to the theatre program at Bloomsburg University, studying under his mentor, Michael Collins, and graduating with a bachelors of arts in theatre in 2005. Now Mergo is living the actor’s dream — pursuing a career in New York City, where he’s working on a few projects and waiting tables to pay the bills.
Weekender: What’s the best part of pursuing an acting career in NYC?
Mergo: When I’m working on a show with actors from New York University or Juilliard, I find tremendous satisfaction in that because the training I had a Bloom means so much to me. Plus, just living here for the last three years has been an incredible life experience. I couldn’t imagine living anywhere else right now.
Weekender: What’s the worst?
Mergo: It’s expensive, and the weather sucks.
Weekender: Do you prefer drama or comedy? Musical or straight show? Why?
Mergo: I love working on drama, but it rarely happens. Most people see me as a Kevin James or Chris Farley type, so I’m always working on comedy. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing. I’m not sure if there’s a better feeling you can have than laughter from a crowd when a joke lands properly. I just so seldom get to work on really serious stuff that I miss it. I’m sure there’s a leading man out there somewhere who bitches about not being able to do comedy as much as he’d like. Actors love to complain. I’ve never had the desire to work on a musical. My acting teacher used to say, “Doing a play is like making love to an audience. Doing a musical is like masturbating on stage.”
Weekender: Stage or screen?
Mergo: That’s like asking, “Pizza or Chinese food?” They’re both incredible, just very different. Film isn’t nearly as exciting while you’re working on it. You spend most of your time on a film set sitting around waiting. Performing on stage is like a drug. If I go too long without it, I become incredibly depressed and anxious. The bond that forms between an actor and an audience in a theatre is amazing, and I’ll always need that experience to be a part of my life. To be honest, though, my main goal has always been television. I’m a TV junkie; I’ve been obsessed with it all my life. There’s something so appealing to me about working on a new character that no one else has played and going on a journey with them over the course of a series.
Weekender: Any current projects in the works?
Mergo: This Sunday, I start filming a new Web series, “Laid.” Episodes will be available online sometime in the spring. I also just finished writing a television pilot as a vehicle for myself, which will keep me busy for awhile.
Weekender: What do you do when you’re not at the theatre?
Mergo: I’m a server, because I love clich�s. I work at Tribeca Grill, which is one of Robert DeNiro’s restaurants in the city.
Weekender: What’s a theatre moment you’ll never forget?
Mergo: This past summer, I was working on a new play festival. In the middle of a performance I dislocated my shoulder. It was the scariest stage moment of my life. I was in tremendous pain, and at the end of the play, I was supposed to have this huge fight scene with another actor. I had no opportunity to get off stage and deal with my arm, so we just kept going. We got to the end, and the actor up there with me wasn’t sure what’s happening, so he started the fight. I was pushing him away with my good arm while speeding through my lines just trying to get to the end. He had no idea what was going on, and neither did the audience, they were totally confused. It was beyond awkward. After the show, I went to the ER, and they popped it back in. The doctor was impressed I made it to the end of the show.
Weekender: Most embarrassing theatre moment?
Mergo: I was doing a children’s theatre show in Florida right after college. I firmly believe children’s theatre is what actors end up working on if they go to hell. During one performance, I was playing a squirrel, running around on stage like an idiot in the Florida heat. I came up to the edge of the stage to talk to the audience, and one kid yelled, “Look how much he’s sweating! Gross, he’s gonna sweat on us!” All the kids started going crazy. Another kid from the back shouted, “He’s all red, he’s gonna have a heart attack!” The teacher finally jumped in and shut them up.
Weekender: If you had three wishes, what would you ask for theatre-wise?
Mergo: I guess one would be steady work. I hate having to work a second job.
It would be great it if I only worked on scripts that I really love. So much of the theatre in this city is garbage. Whenever I’m cast in show or film, I pray that it’s a good script because for me, it’s all about the writing. I think for most actors, we hope to get to a place in our career where we can pick and choose the scripts we want to work on.
I wish my family got to see more of my work. I don’t think they really understand why I’m an actor and what this life means to me. Whenever I come home, the first question they always ask is, “So has Robert DeNiro been in the restaurant lately?”
Weekender: What would you like to be doing in five years?
Mergo: I’d love it if the pilot I wrote got picked up and I had steady work for the next few years. The setting for the show is a place very much like the Wyoming Valley. It would be amazing to come back and film so I could be around my friends and family more. That would be an ideal situation for me.
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