Neighborhood: Astoria

Nat Cassidy in an award-winning playwright, director, and actor, and a sandwich-winning musician. Born in North Carolina and raised in the deserts of Phoenix, Arizona, he received his BFA in Acting/Directing from the University of Arizona in 2004. As an actor, Nat has appeared in television shows like “The Following” (Fox), “The Affair” (Showtime), “Red Oaks” (Amazon) “High Maintenance,” as well as in over 50 theatrical productions at venues such as Lincoln Center, Cherry Lane, The Public, SoHo Playhouse, Classic Stage Company’s East 13th Street Theatre, The Arclight, 59E59, Theatre Row, P.S. 122, Manhattan Theatre Source, The Gallery Players, 45th Street Theatre, The Players Theatre, The Players Club, and many others. Nat’s scripts have been produced and/or developed at The Kennedy Center, Washington National Opera, Primary Stages, The Flea, One Minute Play Festival (The New Ohio), The Players Club, The Players Theatre, LaMaMa ETC, Flux Theatre Ensemble, Nosedive Productions, Piper McKenzie, Adaptive Arts, CAPS LOCK Theatre, Retro Productions, Blood Brothers Present, Manhattan Theatre Source, The Gallery Players, The Brick, The Den Theatre (Chicago), American Theatre Company (Oklahoma), World’s Stage (Wisconsin), Finborough Theatre (UK), and others. His work has been published by New York Theatre Experience, Smith & Kraus, Applause, and Indie Theatre Now. His plays have been nominated for a combined total of 17 New York Innovative Theatre Awards, including three times for Outstanding Full-Length Script (which he won for his play THE RECKONING OF KIT & LITTLE BOOTS in 2009). Other scripts include I AM PROVIDENCE (winner, New York Innovative Theatre Award for Outstanding Solo Performance, 2011); ANY DAY NOW (Primary Stages’ ESPA Drills workshop at The Duke Theatre, August 2014, directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel); OLD FAMILIAR FACES; THE ETERNAL HUSBAND; SONGS OF LOVE: A THEATRICAL MIXTAPE; THE TEMPLE, or, LEBENSRAUM; THE DEMON HUNTER; TENANTS; PIERCE; GOLDSBORO; and many others. In 2012, Nat was commissioned by The Kennedy Center to write the libretto for a new opera with composer Scott Perkins as part of the inaugural American Opera Initiative. The Washington Times called their piece, CHARON, “terrific,” “remarkable,” and wrote that “both the composer and librettist have an uncanny ability to [do] what a great composer like Verdi once did and what so many modern classical composers fail to do—make a visceral connection to their own times.”

He’s currently at work on a boatload of new scripts, screenplays, teleplays, and a couple musicals. He also never thought he’d leave Brooklyn, where he lived for over 10 years, but after moving to Astoria, it took him about 45 minutes to realize he wanted to stay in Queens forever.

Neighborhood: Astoria
Website: http://www.nickdalton.org

Nick is proud to call himself an Astorian Artist, though he hails from the great mitten state of Michigan. He is a founding member of ASTORIOOOUS as well as SATURDAY MORNING CARTOONS: Live (www.smclive.org). He has performed all over the world in many mediums, and is also a teacher and ambassador for ASTEP: Artists Striving To End Poverty (www.asteponline.org), for whom he has created workshops and taught for the Kennedy Center’s American College Theatre Festivals, a school for social change in India called SHANTI BHAVAN, the New York Public School, and the International Refugee Committee.    He is a proud member of AEA/AFTRA/SAG and graduate of Western Michigan University.