ANY DAY NOW
An Apocalyptic Drama in Three Acts

Every apocalypse has to start somewhere ...
​Synopsis: As the world wrestles with the sociological, biological, and theological meanings behind unexplained resurrections of the recently deceased, one Connecticut family learns that secrets cannot stay buried and that the ones you love may be the ones who eat you alive.

Available for purchase: Samuel French (e-copy) and Amazon (in the collection Plays and Playwrights 2010).
Monologues from this play are available from Applause Books (Best Contemporary Monologues for Women 18-35) and Smith & Kraus (The Best Women's Stage Monologues 2014). 

Run-time: 2h with 2 intermissions
Breakdown: 3M, 4W
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File Size: 273 kb
File Type: pdf
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Production History
Any Day Now was originally produced in January 2009 as part of the InGenius Festival by the Writers Forum at the Manhattan Theatre Source with the following cast and credits:

PEN: Waltrudis Buck
ADAM: Anthony Spaldo
BEVERLY: Paige Allen
APRIL: Elyse Mirto
JOSH: Arthur Aulisi
DAVID: Tim Ewing
JACKIE: Anna O’Donoghue

Director: Nat Cassidy
Producers: The Writers Forum, Jim Lawson, Sarah Deavitt Ali
Stage Manager: Laura Schlachtmeyer
Set Design: Jason Bolen
Sound Design: Ien DeNio
Lighting Design: Lauren Parrish
Graphic Design: Chris Santa Maria
Video Design: Ben Sinclair

Any Day Now received its regional premiere in October 2012 at the Tulsa Performing Arts Center with American Theatre Company and the following cast and credits:

PEN: Kathryn Hartney
ADAM: Rick Reiman
BEVERLY: Susan Dergoul
APRIL: Paulette Record
JOSH: Robert Young
DAVID: Jim Runyan
JACKIE: Sloopy McCoy

Director: Robert Walters
Set Design: Richard Ellis
Sound Design: Aaron Veale
Lighting Design: Edward Durnal
Video Design: Titus Jackson 

Any Day Now was also selected as one of four scripts to be workshopped and presented as part of ESPA Drills 2014 at Primary Stages. It included an extensive period of rewrites and feedback, culminating in an Off-Broadway-supported staged reading at The Duke Theater on August 19, 2014 with the following cast. The reading was directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel.

PEN: Lynn Cohen
ADAM: Michael Callahan 
BEVERLY: Johanna Day
APRIL: Heidi Armbruster
JOSH: Michael Laurence
DAVID: Chris Henry Coffey
JACKIE: Amie Tedesco
Voiceovers: Colin Ryan and Kelley Rae O'Donnell 
Stage Directions: Hannah Jane Ginsberg

Press and awards:
Participant, ESPA Drills 2014,  Primary Stages
Winner, New York Innovative Theatre Award for Outstanding Actress in a Lead Role (Elyse Mirto), 2009
Nominee, New York Innovative Theatre Award for Outstanding Director (Nat Cassidy)

"The first act mostly feels neatly off-kilter, with the audience never quite sure whether to laugh or to gasp. Cassidy packages his supernatural theme with such naturalistic aplomb that he evokes David Lynch, particularly the very first episode of Twin Peaks, where you were trying to decipher the creator's intent while increasingly jaw-dropping weirdness unfolded uncontrollably before your eyes. ... Cassidy's direction is splendid, sustaining the heightened, off-balanced naturalism beautifully throughout. His cast of seven is superb ... Any Day Now is further evidence of Cassidy's talent and intelligence as playwright and director. ... It's a long evening, but one filled with surprises and rewards."
- Martin Denton, nytheatre.com (starred review)

"Any Day Now goes from being just an entertaining evening of theatre to...well, something GENIUS. Because you're being thrown for a loop from the moment the lights come up and are entertained for all three acts. A great play for a myriad of reasons ... one that is full of laughs in the right spots. Playwright/director Nat Cassidy does a wonderful job. ... The play delivers, with a surprising ending that holds the audience in the palm of its hand...  Exceptional ... Keeps the audience fascinated for three hours. This is like Sam Shepard meets George Romero, with more emphasis on the former artist than the latter." 
- Dianna Martin, The Fab Marquee

"A vibrant drama, centering on a family whose patriarch returns from the dead during a pandemic of unexplained resurrections. The family members seek to both relate and deny the significance of their own ordinary problems — elderly dementia, closet homosexuality, alcoholism — to the global implications of the zombie appearances. A gritty family drama heightened by a clever allegory for larger social issues. ... The play's themes are compelling and clear."
- Show Business Weekly

"Any Day Now, written and directed by Nat Cassidy, drew me on a cold and wet Saturday night in January. I don't often get to cover off/off Broadway, for there is something going on there almost daily and nightly, but I'm glad I came down to see this. ... Cassidy has a gift for dialogue and characterization. ... Not your usual run-of-the-mill family comedy (or drama, for that matter). ... Tight, suspenseful and scary."
- Richard Seff, D.C. Theatre Scene

“Nat Cassidy's Any Day Now [is a] dark and troubling mix of kitchen-sink black comedy and stark horror ... Yet Cassidy's writing is so sharp that this play holds one's attention like a vise. ... It has its shocks of horror and hilarity - the early scenes are larded with coal-black comedy. But Any Day Now delves into a great many deeper, more challenging issues, raising questions about religious ideas, political motivations, the uncertainties of science, the damage that fear and hate can inflict. ... The sisters' climactic confrontation is shattering.  ... It's a show that anyone who appreciates theater that aims at both the head and the gut will appreciate. And it will haunt you for days to come.”
- James D. Watts, Jr., Tulsa World

"On the local level, nothing topped Playhouse Tulsa's 'The Unmentionables" ... However, American Theatre Company's October production of 'Any Day Now' came close. Nat Cassidy's play might best be described as 'Long Day's Journey into Night of the Living Dead,' as an already dysfunctional family finds itself in the midst of an eschatological crisis when a dead family member comes back to life. 
- Tulsa World, "The Biggest Moments of the 2012 Tulsa Arts Scene"
Check out Nat's critically-acclaimed and award-winning zombie apocalypse family drama, Any Day Now, available now FOR FREE on Samuel French's website!


Click here to read more about the play which critics called "genius," "scary," "jaw-dropping," and "will haunt you for days to come."

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And if you HAVE read or seen Any Day Now, please consider giving it a rating and/or review on the Samuel French website! It can help greatly towards making another production happen!