“Go forth and set the world on fire.” — St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits
With his red hair and passionate nature, that quote aptly fits Temple University student Michael C. Busza. A communications and English major, Busca is the first recipient of the school’s Marc David LGBTQ Scholarship and is the writer and director of Temple’s new web student series, “One of the Guys”.
PGN: Tell me about Michael Busza. MB: I was born in Springfield, Pa., but I went to school at St. Joe’s Prep at 17th and Girard, so I’ve always been familiar with the city. I have two younger brothers, Brennan and Jordan — good Irish names — and a large extended family. We’re very close-knit, lots of big family gatherings. I’m going home tonight, in fact.
PGN: What do the parents do? MB: My dad is a math teacher and my mom majored in graphic design and marketing. They’re total opposite ends of the spectrum. She’s the director of advertising for a big lumber company and before that she was the managing editor of a magazine.
PGN: So I’d guess you get the creative side from your mother, though math can be creative. MB: Oh, no. My dad’s a saint, I love him … but the creative side is definitely from my mother. Growing up, she was a big proponent of “Here’s the box. Now step outside of it.” She was a big idea person. She was the one who instilled a love of the arts from a very young age. We’d go into Philly all the time for various cultural adventures.
PGN: Do you remember the first play you ever saw? MB: Oh gosh. I think it was “The Chronicles of Narnia.”
PGN: What traits do you think you did get from your dad? MB: I’d say my determination and my love of books. My dad is an avid reader, and I’m a big bookworm.
PGN: What things did you do as a kid? MB: I did a lot of theater. I did Upper Darby Summer Stage, the community theater that Tina Fey talks about in her book “Bossy Pants.” She changed the names for the book but a lot of the people she talks about are people I worked with! I did that from age 12 until I was 18. I was in the traveling troupe that went to Disney World to perform, and I’m still in touch with some of my friends from there. I also enjoyed family vacations. We’d always do something that incorporated an educational component. We’d go to Colonial Williamsburg or go to Busch Gardens but stop at all the historical sights along the way. We went to D.C. and did all the Smithsonian museums. I loved that; I’m a real museum junkie. I remember going to see Van Gogh here at the Art Museum when I was in fourth grade. In fact, I’m excited right now because my best friend, the girl I took to prom, is coming down from Yale for our spring break so we can see the Prohibition exhibit at the Constitution Center.
PGN: Play any sports? MB: Yes, I played everything. I’ve been this tall since eighth grade so I was a center in basketball. I played lacrosse, soccer, baseball, everything but football — our mom didn’t want us getting that rough- and-tumble. Though I racked up a slew of jammed fingers and broken bones even in the “non-contact” sports I played. But God created this pale boy to be in a library and that is where I’ll stay. When I got to St. Joe’s, I did more academics. I was the editor of the school paper and the yearbook, that sort of thing. But I’ll always love sports and I’ll always root for the Birds. I can’t wait for Chip Kelly to get us a Super Bowl ring.
PGN: What was your favorite show as a kid? MB: I was really into “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” though I was just a little too old for them. I kind of got into them late, after the fad was over, so my poor mother had to really search to find TMNT action figures and paraphernalia. Somehow she always managed to find stuff. I also loved Bugs Bunny, still do. I want to get a Bugs Bunny tattoo. But the show that had the most impact was “Will and Grace.” I first saw it in sixth grade and it was monumental. I attribute a lot of my development to that show. I went to a private, all-male, Catholic high school and to be able to sit on my mom’s bed and laugh at a show that was all about LGBT culture and featured a prominent, respectable, dignified primary character who was multidimensional was important. He was onscreen proving and living a life that I didn’t even know was out there. The world needs more Will Trumans. As a filmmaker, I remember the impact we can make.
PGN: What was your first inkling that you were gay? MB: In sixth grade I won a scholarship to go to this all-male private school, St. Aloysius Academy. I’d been in public school since fifth grade, where you never changed for gym. I remember my first time in the locker room at Aloysius thinking, hmm, something’s weird here. I’m not sure what’s going on but I’m feeling some different feelings. From there on, it was a slow process of figuring it out. It took me a long time to accept it for myself and it wasn’t until I was a junior in high school that I came out to my parents. They were very supportive right from the start. My dad is like Kurt Hummel’s dad on “Glee.” Total straight guy but behind me 100 percent.
PGN: Religion? MB: I’m a very spiritual person and I’m proud of that. I’m no longer Catholic but I’m still figuring it out. It was really hard to reconcile my Catholicism with my homosexuality. I was mad at the Prep for a while; I felt cloistered by my faith and the school, not realizing that there were a lot of supportive faculty members and staff that I didn’t even know about. I didn’t find out until after the fact. They’ve even started an LGBT initiative and when I went back recently, they couldn’t have been prouder of my Marc David scholarship. And now I realize how much a Jesuit education has contributed to the way I think and the way I see the world on a spiritual level and how much we are connected. I now feel comfortable being a spiritual man and a renaissance thinker and also gay.
PGN: How’s college life? MB: College life is great! I’m in my junior year and I’m livin’ it and lovin’ it. I’ve never been happier or more at peace and yet passionate, excited and driven at the same time. PGN: You’re a resident assistant and you’ve been a camp counselor. What’s the best horror story? MB: There aren’t any real horror stories, but I took my residents to see “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” at the William Way Center. At first they were like, “What is it? Is it like Rocky Balboa?” But then they looked it up online and really got into getting all the costumes and props. They were like, “This is so cool!” We had an awesome time.
PGN: Tell me about the web series. MB: Yes! “One of the Guys” is a sitcom about three gay friends and their laidback straight roommate. Our tagline is “One of these things is not like the others.” It’s Temple’s first full-length web series (so you can watch it at home in your pajamas). It’s been in the back of my head for a while because it’s a story that resonates in my life and one that I think a lot of people can relate to. The relationships between gay men and their heterosexual counterparts are changing as society changes and public opinion about homosexuality changes. They’re thriving and strong and comforting and complex and we don’t see them portrayed much in the media. The relationships you see in the show are loosely based on my real friends … my straight best friend, my 16-year-old younger brother, friends from school. It annoys me that on TV the only relationships that you see are gay friends or the “Will and Grace” pairings; as much as I liked that show, there are hundreds of different types of relationships out there.
PGN: Who’s in the cast? MB: I have seven main cast members. Six of the seven cast members are Temple students and two of them did Upper Darby summer theater with me so I’ve known them since I was 16. But I still made them audition. It’s great to work with people you vibe with on a personal and a professional level. It translates onto the screen: The love that you see between the friends is genuine, on-screen and off. And the guy who plays the straight guy is straight in real life, and he hangs out with us on the weekends so the dynamics are real. We have a lot of fun on- and off-set! PGN: Since it’s loosely based on real life, do you cringe at certain parts? MB: Well, there was a scene in episode three where — oh, I hate to give anything away, spoiler alert! — the straight guy accidentally wrecks one of the gay guy’s dates because he’s oblivious to what’s going on. After the date goes home, the straight guy realizes what happened and he says something like, “I’m sorry, I cock-blocked cock.” Knowing that my 12-year-old brother and mother are going to watch, it is a little disconcerting but I don’t really mind. It showed that the guys genuinely cared about each other; they just didn’t necessarily share the same lingo. It’s what the show is about. And that’s what this business is about. You might be sharing something personal or private or even embarrassing, but you have a pedestal. It can be a selfless, humbling experience to open yourself up but it’s worth it. I mean my mom watches the show and there are parts that might embarrass me, but at the end of the day, there might be a closeted 13-year-old who’s looking for some piece of hope and some piece of a life they don’t know about who is touched or educated by what they see. For me, that overrules any embarrassment I might have. The Jesuits talked about the human connection, and the thought that I could reach out through my art and touch another human being is awesome.
[As we’re talking, an Adele songs comes on in the background.] MB:I love Adele! I saw her at the Electric Factory. It was her 21st birthday and she put on an amazing show and then my mom went with me to see her at the TLA. She’d just gotten her first Grammy nomination.
PGN: What is your mission statement? MB: I was just thinking about it the other night when I was writing a grant application for the show. I was putting in all sorts of data, key demographics, budget, synopsis, etc., and I started to put in a mission statement when I realized that I don’t have one. And I’m not scared of that because I know what I stand for. I’m a storyteller, which is why I ended up in films. I want to know people’s stories, what motivates people, what drives their decisions, what makes you get out of bed in the morning, or what keeps you up to the wee hours of the morning. I want to explore all these things.
PGN: What’s the Marc David LGBT Scholarship Award? MB: Temple got an anonymous donation of $5,000 to create the scholarship, which is their first LGBT scholarship. It’s for LGBT advocacy and leadership. I was really excited when I heard I was chosen. I ran outside and called my mom and she was so excited, she started crying! For me, I think just the fact that my school had an LGBT scholarship for me to win was empowering and inspiring. It meant that I have a voice and a message and that I matter. And that Temple recognized me and the way I live my life and, as Sally Fields said, that people really like me.
PGN: First car? MB: My first and only car. I had an old ’98 Ford Taurus, which my dad got me the week I found out that I was a recipient of the Coca-Cola scholarship. It was a big, prestigious honor and I named her — the car, not the scholarship — Norma Jean Baker because she was sandy-tan and a blonde bombshell. Every time “Candle in the Wind” would come on, I’d blast the stereo.
PGN: My fashion inspiration is … MB: Nonexistent! I’m the shabbiest person around. The male Lena Dunham. I’m a thriftstore kind of guy. The residents call me Grandpa Mike sometimes because I’ll be sitting there in my cardigan reading the paper and sipping coffee.
PGN: What celebrity would you want to do a love scene with? MB: Dan Savage. He’s got such a brilliant mind, I’d just like to sit with him and snuggle and pick his brain. Or Hugh Jackman, he’s not too bad either. PGN: Are you in a relationship? MB: Nope, I’m a single lady and loving it.
PGN: I am most at peace when … MB: When I’m on set. When you’re directing you need to be 100-percent focused. Everything else just drips away. You talk about transcending, well, it’s more like in-scending. It doesn’t matter what else is happening in my life, on set I’m totally in the moment. People are relying on me to tell the story.
PGN: In another life I was probably … MB: A poet and beatnik, a free spirit. I love poetry and I’ve always felt a connection to Walt Whitman and for years had a super-nerdy crush on Alan Ginsberg.
PGN: When do you sleep? MB: Ha! People have been asking that a lot recently. I don’t really sleep. The way I see it, when I’m 80, I’m not going to look back and say, “Gee, I wish I would have slept more.” Sleep is for quitters! I just run … I run on coffee and adrenaline and passion, and I am tired a lot and perhaps it’s not always the best thing — my mom yells at me for it — but I’m really happy with what I’m doing. It is what it is.
Check out “One of the Guys” at www.oneoftheguystv.com.
To suggest a community member for “Family Portrait,” write to [email protected].