It’s Only a Play's Micah Stock on His White Christmas Beginnings & Stint as a Real-Life Coat Check Boy

Age: 25

Hometown: Dayton, OH

Current Role: A scene-stealing Broadway debut as Gus, an “actor-slash-singer-slash-dancer-slash-comedian-slash-performance-artist-slash-mime” working the coat check in the star-packed revival of Terrence McNally's It’s Only a Play.

Stage & Screen Cred: Stock appeared in the off-Broadway world premiere of McNally's And Away We Go; his screen credits include Pan Am, Law & Order: SVU and King Kelly.

“Neither of my parents are artists—they’re both economists, but reading was essential. If you go back to my childhood home, there’s books stacked on chairs and on top of the oven. Reading as a way of comprehending the world is paramount in my family.”

“I was in dance and gymnastics classes when I was a kid. I would dance around our living room doing that Danny Kaye song from White Christmas, that was a classic. I think I made some...additions to the choreography." [Laughs.] "I made it my own.”

“To make money, I’ve done all the classic things—I’ve waited tables, I’ve babysat. Ironically, I’ve been a coat check guy. When we went into rehearsals and I was figuring out how to check all these coats, I felt the residual stress and terror creep up again.”

“Seeing my name on the marquee [with Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick] is so surreal. I’m embarrassed to say I’ve walked by the theater more often than I needed to in the initial weeks. I’m spoiled just to even be on the poster, let alone be on stage with them!”

“Terrence McNally has been deeply kind to me and placed a lot of faith in me. For so many years, I read his plays in the middle of the night in my bedroom in Ohio and fell in love with him. It’s really special that he's such an important part of my first years in New York.”

“Working with this cast, I’ve learned that you have to be bold. You have to ride the line of confidence without dipping into arrogance and know when to pass the ball on to someone else. It’s such high art to be in an ensemble, and it’s something that I’ll never forget.”