Theatre performance major Daniel Mercado has been a mainstay of Seattle Pacific University’s Theatre Department for the past few years, having recently featured in prominent roles in “The Thanksgiving Play” and “Anastasia: The Musical”. This spring’s ‘The Voice of the Prairie’ stands out as the last full-length play of the 2024-25 academic year, and as such, now is a great time to chronicle Mercado’s experience with theatre before graduation this spring.
Mercado’s history with acting began in middle school when he got an ensemble role in a production of the musical “Annie.”
“I just felt so natural being onstage,” Mercado said. “It felt very me.”
Mercado continued to take roles in shows — primarily musicals — throughout middle and high school, such as Pinocchio in “Shrek: The Musical” and Lumiere in “Beauty and the Beast” before enrolling at SPU.
“[SPU] was on my radar for quite a while. I knew they had a really good theater program, and that they were really involved in the Seattle theater community,”
Of the shows the theatre department produced over the years, Mercado has a few productions that he found particularly memorable.
Mercado played a role in “The Christians”, a play performed in October and November of 2023.
“‘The Christians’ was a show I was really proud of; it’s about a megachurch that is split by a schism based on a difference in belief between the pastor and the assistant pastor. It was relevant to SPU and the community we have here as an ecumenical university that’s experienced our own little schism as well. It was such a well written show; the way it was written gave me a lot of inner fire for every performance.” Mercado said.
“Romeo and Juliet”, performed in May of 2024, marked Mercado’s first role in a Shakespeare play — a noteworthy milestone in their acting career.
“Romeo was a dream role for me, so that’s one dream role off the list. Up until taking a Shakespeare class with Candace [Vance], I had no prior experience with reciting Shakespeare, I didn’t know how to perform classical work up until I started doing ‘Romeo and Juliet.’”
Finding common ground with the characters he plays is a valuable aspect of Mercado’s acting, citing his character Davey in “The Voice of the Prairie” as an example.
“Davey has a very rich inner world and a very rich imagination, a fierce desire to survive and protect those close to him, and care for people. Those are traits that I find really admirable, and I feel are easy to identify with,” Mercado said.
Identifying with his roles has not always come easily, as he recounts his experience with the character of Dmitri during the production of “Anastasia: The Musical.”
“At first I didn’t identify with Dmitri; I started playing him and thought ‘I really don’t get this man’, but as I started going deeper and deeper into the character, I just kept working at him, and I found some common ground. It feels weird to talk about these characters as if they were real people, but they are written to be as such. Treating them like they’re their own human beings with their own struggles, their own traumas, their own wants and desires, their own victories, too,” Mercado said.
After graduation, Mercado’s primary commitment is to starting a small-scale theater program at an institution for the Boys & Girls Club of America, using the skills acquired from his major to “be kids’ first introduction to theater as a creative outlet”. All the while, Mercado will continue to audition for theatrical productions, both locally and regionally.
“I’ve done a lot of auditions in the past two quarters, and I haven’t heard much back but that’s okay.”
