Michael Burgos has spent a LOT of time in the Drugs and Alcohol services office….learning about drug dealers to research his role in the play, “This is Our Youth.” The Mason’s Players performance ran from March 1 to March 4.

Burgos doesn’t drink or smoke. His character, on the other hand, does all of the above and even more. “I’ve never done cocaine and my character does….a LOT of cocaine,” he said.

Burgos is a senior at Mason, majoring in theater. Growing up in Mananas, he loved music. He went to Mason to study music but after acting in a few of his friends short films, he realized how much he enjoyed it and decided to take acting classes at Mason. Through those classes, teachers and directors asked him to try out for shows. Once he did he began getting roles frequently. Burgos simply put it as “Life presented acting to me. I never chased the path, instead it found me.”

The play focuses on three friends and their drug-induced trip to try and fix the problems they had created. Along the way, there is lots of pot smoking, coke snorting, ogling over girls, and plenty of party fouls. His character is named Dennis Viegler. Burgos describes him as naturally brilliant with a nack for winning.

When Burgos was cast, the director asked him to grow out all of his facial hair, later they shaved his beard into a scruffy look.

Prepping for the performance, he  read and read and read his lines. With about six rehearsals a week and three hours of studying independently, the lines became second nature. However, studying the text was not enough to understand this character who is so different from who he is.

At times it was difficult for him to justify the crazy intoxicated lines that his character constantly spoke. Burgos tries to understand why his character says what they say, but this was difficult with Dennis. So he spoke to experts.

He visited a professor in the Mason Criminology department to understand the logic of drug dealing, and even more, why a person from an affluent background would get into selling. Then he spent time at the Drug and Alcohol Services office on campus to learn why people use drugs and where these addictions come from. This helped him understand and channel his character.

And, he says, his cast mates helped a lot.

“I learned how important the other person on stage with you is,” he says. “You are the only person there for them and they are the only person there for you.”