Jesse Tyler Ferguson, who plays uptight lawyer Mitchell Pritchett — one half of the show’s gay couple, which has Facebook clamoring for a big kiss — on the ABC hit, is back in New York City to appear on the airy stage of ‘Shakespeare in the Park.’ He is featured in both summer productions — ‘The Winter’s Tale,’ and ‘The Merchant of Venice‘ with the one and only Al Pacino.

PopEater has an interview with Jesse and here are the highlights:

Are you going to offer Pacino a few acting pointers?
Yeah, Al really needed a good long summer with me to learn how to act. This is my third ‘Shakespeare in the Park’ and the first time I was offered it. That’s never happened before; I’ve always had to jump through hoops and audition for these roles, and this was the first summer that they trusted me enough to do it. I guess I’ve paid my dues.

I still don’t get how people memorize Shakespeare.
I’m always so intimidated by it, thinking I’m never going to learn this, and for some reason I end up learning it quicker because it’s like poetry. Once you understand what you’re saying, it’s very easy to memorize. It’s getting over that hurdle. I bought the ‘No Fear Shakespeare’ version of ‘Merchant of Venice.’ Basically, on one side of the page it has Shakespeare’s dialogue, and on the other is plain English. I was ashamed to have it until I saw Al Pacino carrying around the same book on the very first day of rehearsals. I was very comforted.

What do you think of the ‘Let Cam & Mitchell kiss on Modern Family‘ Facebook campaign?
I’m all for progressive movement within the show. I appreciate the passion that some of the fans have. The fact that there is even a campaign on Facebook just shows how many people really love the show and the characters and want to see them happy. I think the writers are proceeding in a very wise way. There’s a great PDA episode they’re writing about Mitchell’s issues with public displays of affection. Viewers shouldn’t be expecting a big, ‘Gone with the Wind’ romantic kiss. It’s very beautiful and poignant. The writers are so good, they’re really taking that criticism and they’re going to run with it and try and create a talking point with it.