At LSU, he acted in several theater productions, to name a few: The Tooth of Crime in 1986, in which he played Hoss; Sly Fox in 1982, and Death of a Salesman in 1986.[5] He played "Treat" in Lyle Kessler's play Orphans.[8] He played Alvaro Mangiacavallo in the LSU Theatre main stage production of The Rose Tattoo, directed by John Dennis in 1987.[9]
He has the title role in an acclaimed[10]one-man show written by Champ Clark, Wild Son: The Testimony of Christian Brando,[11] which premiered at the Santa Monica Playhouse in 2019 and was praised by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Beth Henley.[12]Wild Son is based on face-to-face interviews between the journalist Champ Clark and Christian Brando before the latter's death in 2008.[13][14] The show was performed at Bistro Byronz, a restaurant chain in Baton Rouge, LA, on June 19th, 2022.[15] The show ran at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe from August 15-20, 2022.[16][17]
Film
Mese had the starring role as Richard Broderick in the film Noise in the Middle (2020), also starring Tara Buck as Richard’s deceased wife.[18][19] He played Augie in King of Herrings (2013), an indie film directed by Eddie Jemison and also starring Mese's fellow LSU alumnus Joe Chrest.[20][21] Mese played "Crow" in Derek Sitter's award-winning short, Bugtussle (2022).[22]Bugtussle was recognized by the Accolade Global Film Competition for "Awards of Merit" in August 2022, notably for Leading Actor (Mese), Supporting Actor (Sitter), Film Short, Script/Writer (Sitter), Original Score, composed by James Hutchens and Johnny Bourbon.[23]
Mese and his wife, Dawn Kelsey, are the authors of a children's book series called Flippy and Friends.[2] The idea started in 2002; Mese and Kelsey worked with illustrator Chanler Holden and her husband, Major Mittendorf.[2]
In 2017, Mese penned an editorial for the entertainment section of Purple Clover; this was an autobiographical sketch about boyhood fantasy, titled "My First Playboy."[29]
Awards
Best Acting Performance, Oregon Short Film Festival, Winter 2023 edition[30][31]
^ abFoil, David (April 17, 1986). "BR man finalist in GQ competition". Baton Rouge Morning Advocate.
^Bynum, Chris (April 17, 1986). "The Face". Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate.
^Foil, David (April 17, 1986). "BR man finalist in GQ competition". Newsbank. Baton Rouge Advocate. Retrieved April 24, 2023. A few hours later, the handsome 6-foot-1 Baton Rougean was named one of the nation's 14 finalists in the "Face of the '80s for Men" competition presented by Gentlemen's Quarterly magazine and Ford Models, and sponsored by Gilette. "Face of the '80s for Men" is designed to select a male model to represent Ford Models and to appear in GQ magazine.
^Foil, David (April 8, 1989). "LSU's "Orphans" a rewarding experience". Newsbank. Baton Rouge Morning Advocate. Retrieved August 29, 2022. There were moments in Thursday's performance when it seemed Treat got so furious at his predicament that Mese let him go to the point of inchoate hurt. In its way, that stripping away of pretense was far more threatening than all the punk posturing Treat exhibits. Harold's emotional pummeling of Treat -- "tough love," maybe? -- is probably the play's most agonizing moment. McNeal's Harold is relentless. Mese's eyes betray Treat's flickering terror of opening up.
^""The Rose Tattoo"". The Baton Rouge Advocate Magazine. April 26, 1987. Retrieved January 19, 2023.
^Benjamin Shifren, Esther (May 14, 2009). ""Wild Son: The Testimony of Christian Brando" Review - A Compelling Performance of his Story"(Online). Splash Mags. Splash Magazines Worldwide. Retrieved July 13, 2022. Mese, in a riveting one-hour solo performance, sits, or moves around the stage effectively while constantly sipping canned beer. He does a sterling job of acting out Christian's tragic story, his rebellion and fractured relationship with his father....
^Rovira, Ashley (August 27, 2022). "Boomers and Zoomers". Heavy Crown Press. Heavy Crown Press. Archived from the original on August 28, 2022. Retrieved August 29, 2022. For the Festival Fringe this year, Mese performed in Venue 16, Greenside at Riddle's Court.
^Advocate, 15 Mar. 1992, p. 127. NewsBank: America's News – Historical and Current, infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=AMNEWS&docref=image/v2%3A138F0D9908AC8D5F%40EANX-14ADB848068B3043%402448697-14ADB4B911A60035%40126-14ADB4B911A60035%40. Accessed 29 Aug. 2022.