Two Wolverine Football Players Tackle Shakespeare: David Moosman
12/11/2009 12:00:00 AM | Football
Dec. 11, 2009
Michigan football teammates David Moosman and David Cone are appearing in a U-M production of Shakespeare's Macbeth at the Powers Center from Dec. 10-13, showing some of their lesser-known talents on a much different stage. Moosman and Cone are used to performing in front of crowds much larger than those at the Power Center, but football is a lot different than theater. How did these gridiron giants find themselves in period costume performing one of the best-known plays in the world? Moosman and Cone tackle Shakespeare in this dual-interview with U-M director of publications Barb Cossman.
David Moosman
Standing 6-5 and weighing a hair under 300 pounds, offensive lineman David Moosman dwarfs his fellow actors on-stage. Moosman plays a soldier in Macbeth -- a replacement for another actor who suffered an injury. Though he prefers Hemingway and Baldwin to the Bard, Moosman can do a mean Henry V and can speak expansively on puttees and vomitoriums.
 |  |
Moose Talks Theatre
What's your role? I'm a soldier. I guess my name is technically Tommy but that never comes up. Do you have lines? No, no lines. (Quarterback David) Cone has lines, I don't have lines. He said he doesn't. He's got a line. At the end he said he had something everyone says. So that's a line, I don't have one of those! I'll be standing in the vom. In the what? The vomitory. It's like a backstage; it's literally underneath the audience. We come out in the audience. Is that a theatre term? Here, I'll look it up -- 'an opening through which something is ejected or discharged. Also called vomitorium, an opening as in a stadium or theatre permitting large numbers of people to enter or leave.' Is that all you do? No, I help carry on bodies. Is that why they gave you the role -- because you're a strong football player? No, actually I'm filling in for this other guy who got hurt, his shoulder actually came out. I carry people on and off. I got a gun. I'm the first person to walk on stage, it's pretty cool. Do you have to wear tights? No, I've got a puttee. A puttee is what British soldiers used to wear when they didn't want to get their pants dirty. It was like a wool wrapping around the bottom of their pants and the top of their shoes so they could just wash the puttee and not have to wash the pants. And that would also prevent dirt and other unknown substances from getting in their shoes. This is a very educational discussion here.
Moose Talks Shakespeare
Were you familiar with Macbeth before you took this on? Yeah, I was in a Shakespeare class here. I could be considered a Shakespeare fan. If you were given lines, would you be able to do that effectively? There's a lot more that goes into it than just reading, but I give a good Henry V. I love Henry V, that was one of my favorites. Have you heard of Band of Brothers? The speech, the whole Band of Brothers speech, 'We few, we honored few,' something like that. 'We do not wish to die with those who do not wish to die with us.'
Moose Talks Literature
So are you a Shakespeare fan? Oh, I like Shakespeare, but I'm more of a Hemingway guy. I really like Hemingway. And later American literature like James Baldwin, Henry James. Definitely Hemingway and James Baldwin are two of my favorites.
Moose Talks Big Stage
Is this the first production you've been in? Yes. Then this might be hard to answer, but heading into it, what would you think would be more intimidating: being the first person on-stage or lining up against some 300-pound behemoth? Well I remember my first play in Michigan Stadium so we'll see which is more stressful. It was against Utah two years ago. I was like, 'Well, this is it.' And did you execute? Yah, I got him, I got my guy. I just remember being out there and thinking, 'Okay, this is actually happening.' You think you'll be like that tonight (opening night)? I don't know. When you're playing football at my position, there's definitely emphasis taken off right guard. And when I'm the only one moving on stage it's kind of cool. Sometimes you might be the only one moving on the field. (Laughter) I hope not!
Moose Talks Michigan
Can you summarize your experience at Michigan in one sentence? My four years here culminated in experiences all over campus in all different facets of life with a wide variety of people, and have brought me to a place where I can fulfill my potential. That was pretty good, huh? I've met a lot of cool people, I did a lot of cool things, I have a good idea what I want to do with the rest of my life and Michigan gave me a degree so I have an opportunity to do it. I want to be successful and Michigan's given me that opportunity.
I'm going to go try football and then if that doesn't work either get a business degree or a journalism degree or travel. I'm preparing for the draft and pro day when the coaches come in and see what I can do. I'm trying to learn how to long snap so I have one more ability under my belt. I can play guard, center, guard and I can hopefully long snap and do all of them well enough to get a position. If they can pay me what they would have to pay four people to do, hell yah.
 | |
Moose Talks Ann Arbor
What is the best thing about Ann Arbor? That's a bad question because there are so many different sections of Ann Arbor. My favorite thing is the food. I've been to just about every restaurant in Ann Arbor and I think the food. It's like the university, it reaches so far. You've got some of the best restaurants around. My favorite restaurant is Argiero's, but the best restaurant is probably the West End Grill or Logan's if you're talking spare no expense.
So what are the other things about Ann Arbor that you've liked? The other cool things are the tiny little niches you find. Have you ever been to the Wave Field? It's basically a plot of grass on North Campus. The girl who designed the Vietnam Memorial (in D.C.) designed this field and it's pretty sweet. But that's the kind of thing Ann Arbor does: someone says go make something cool, someone does it and it's awesome. Like the Solar Car team. The Solar Car team spent like millions of dollars and they got third place, but that's awesome. They won a couple times and apparently this year they didn't know they had to go up a hill so they didn't make a motor strong enough to get up the hill so they dropped a place or two. These kids make a car and race against professionals, national teams or company teams. This other guy I met, he started this organization and once a month he calls Tel Aviv at 2 a.m. and he finds people to go work jobs over in Israel, from Michigan. And the Ross School of Business, you ever been to the top floor of that place? Awesome. This thing juts out with three windows, all glass. And the Every Three Weekly. It's the Michigan version of The Onion.
