What the Critical People Have Said

--WRITING/DIRECTING--

NYTHEATRE's People of the Year 2011: 
"Nat Cassidy is an actor, director, and playwright of surprising range and depth."

Charon

A short opera commissioned by The Kennedy Center/Washington National Opera
Music by Scott Perkins
Libretto by Nat Cassidy
November 2012, The Kennedy Center

  • "Charon was the strongest [work of the evening]. Cassidy's libretto is spare and telling, and gave his partner repetitive and clear material for musical treatment. The piece works effectively because it establishes and maintains a single mood, intensifying to a dramatic conclusion."
    - Philip Kennicott, The Washington Post

    • “Perkins’ and Cassidy’s Charon was, as Monty Python might have put it, 'something completely different.' ...  Perhaps the most remarkable thing about Charon was the free-flowing imagination of librettist Nat Cassidy ...  Mr. Cassidy grabbed [Lord Dunsany's] idea and ran with it in his libretto, gradually revealing the growing horde of souls—by implication and suggestion—is actually the mass casualty of a human Armageddon. ... It’s a brief, intense setting for this quietly apocalyptic libretto that expands in a truly unsettling way the idea-kernel that Mr. Cassidy brilliantly extracted from Dunsany’s fictional speculation. ... Mr. Cassidy’s libretto is what any composer could want: a good, tight story; a compelling major character; a text loaded with rhythmic metrics, sing-able vowels; and the whole driven with choruses in a 'dies irae' funereal chant style, perfectly orchestrated by Mr. Perkins. The sum of its many parts provides a haunting atmosphere for the composer’s haunting music. ... In Charon, 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. And that’s what makes Charon a remarkable and welcome musical surprise."
      - Terry Ponick, The Washington Times

    • “Of the three presented, only one stood out and that was Charon. The libretto about the weary boatman ferrying newly deceased to Hades and the richly textured percussive music made the entire evening worth dashing from DC's Union Station.”
      - Karen LaLonde Alenier, The Dressing

    • “The best effort of the night  [was] Charon, with music by Scott Perkins and libretto by Nat Cassidy. ... With its echoes of Sartre's Huis clos (‘L'enfer, c'est les autres’), juxtaposition of grim humor and hellscape, and the most evocative use of the limited instrumentation by a long shot, it was a work not without  shortcomings but which I would gladly hear again and take the chance to study the score.”
      - Charles T. Downey, Ion Arts

BLOOD BROTHERS PRESENT...RAW FEED

An evening of short horror plays including "Joy Junction" and "TALHOTBLOND," written by Nat Cassidy
Directed by Pete Boisvert, Patrick Shearer, and Nat Cassidy
October 2012, The Brick Theatre

  • "Remarkably creepy ... Resonantly disturbing ... Nat Cassidy's Joy Junction is a highlight."
    – Maria Micheles, nytheatre.com

  • "Smart and daring ... The creative team makes bold and surprising choices, such as Nat Cassidy’s TALHOTBLOND ... The poignancy of this piece is accented beautifully... Provides the instant gratification of horror and blood with clever commentary and character exploration." 
    – Bradley Troll, Theatre Is Easy

  • “The night’s most rewarding [pieces] come from the playwright Nat Cassidy, with the sung-notspoken-word TALHOTBLOND, and Joy Junction.” 
    – Adam McGovern, Tor.com

  • “The most striking piece of the evening is Nat Cassidy's TALHOTBLOND. [It] is haunting ... Cassidy's Joy Junction is amazingly creepy.” 
    – Byrne Harrison, StageBuzz

SONGS OF LOVE: A THEATRICAL MIXTAPE

Written and Directed by Nat Cassidy
August 2012, The Players Theatre

  • "It’s like an episode of Kids in the Hall written by Ionesco and scored by Jonathan Richman. This mixtape is so diverse that at times it can be hard to believe that the same writer wrote them all, and is a testament to Cassidy’s versatility that he did. ... Cassidy’s voice is truly unique, confident, and strong. [Some of the short plays] are so gorgeous they just about defy gravity. ...  I wrote nearly half the thing down verbatim in my notebook as I watched because I wanted to make sure I’d remember those lines. It’s hilariously self-referential, and poetic, and chilling. ... [Ben] Williams’ performance in [the track titled "The Scariest Thing"] is one of the most upsetting, honest, jaw-droppingly raw moments of theater I’ve ever seen. ... At the end of the evening, my date turned to me and said, 'This restored my faith in theater,' and it’s easy to see why. Mixtape is compassionate, hysterical, and has moments of gut-punching raw beauty. My one regret is that I saw it so late in its run and can’t actually drive people into its audience. Here’s hoping it comes back to charm us once again."
    - Mariah MacCarthy, The Happiest Medium

  • "Fabulous ... I crumbled. Tears poured down my face and I wasn’t even embarrassed. ... [A] force of nature ... Hilarious ... The last piece may be the most warped first date I’ve ever witnessed or heard of. I could feel the audience freeze in their seats. ... Expect to laugh. Expect to relate. Expect to remember past love. Expect to speculate over current love. Expect to look to future love. Expect to cry. Expect to be moved. Expect to fall in love with this mixtape."
    - Katelyn Collins, Around the Fringe in 20 Plays
     
  •  "Nat Cassidy is an audacious fellow. His brand-new pastiche of twisted short plays and quirky folk-rock is perfectly suited to the sensibilities of FringeNYC festivalgoers' demographic. He’s clearly poured his heart into the project ... The stage lights up in the presence of the dependable Kristen Vaughan [who] delivers a gorgeous monologue ... Brilliant satire ... [Cassidy’s musical offerings] are truly inventive and well-utilized – a flattering imitation of Jonathan Richman from the film There's Something about Mary came to mind. ... I will be looking forward to Cassidy’s next project, even if it’s a set of covers."
    - Josh Sherman, nytheatre.com

  • "Songs of Love does not disappoint ... Inexusable and needs to be addressed."
    - David Roberts, Theatre Reviews Limited 

Featured in:

THE ETERNAL HUSBAND

Written and Directed by Nat Cassidy
August 2011, La Mama ETC

  • "Nat Cassidy's starkly original adaptation of Dostoevsky's The Eternal Husband is, amazing, unforgettable. Charles E. Gerber's Older Man of the title is absolutely electrifying. Arthur Aulisi's Younger Man, Elyse Mirto's wife Natalya, and Karen Sternberg's ex-girlfriend Claudia, combine to generate heat that is pure brilliance. THIS IS 75 MINUTES YOU MUST NOT MISS!" 
    - Joe Franklin, Bloomberg Radio

  • "The Eternal Husband is a well-executed noir drama, staged simply and with utmost confidence by writer/director Nat Cassidy ...The material is startlingly well structured ... the cast is stellar ... Certainly, among the shows I've seen thus far in this year's festival, The Eternal Husband offers the most enjoyable night of theater. I can't wait for Cassidy's next creation." 
    - Nathaniel Kressen, nytheatre.com
 
  • "Nat Cassidy's The Eternal Husband has pretty much everything. Moments of sheer terror mixed with darkly funny humour; a romantic core with a violent exterior. But my gosh does it work. Running at a mere seventy five minutes there isn't a dull moment. Yet, it is not just the excitement that is so impressive but the careful layers of thoughtful philosophy. ... Cassidy makes the material work on its own terms, pacing things beautifully, letting the shocking conclusion breathe rather than overwhelm. ... The skilled cast conjures fully formed characters ... An impressive piece of work by any standards. I'd love to see Cassidy's adaptation given a slightly more polished production, the scope for terror could only increase, but at the tiny La MaMa theatre this is still, in every way, worth a look." 
    - Robert Walport, The Tyro Theatre Critic
 
  • "All the roles are well played, especially, I thought, that of Claudia (Karen Sternberg), a friend and former lover to [the private detective]. Elyse Mitro’s adulterous and castrating Natalya is eminently believable as the sort of woman an eternal husband is drawn to, as a moth to the flame ... The Eternal Husband is noir to the nth!" 
    - Broadway World

I AM PROVIDENCE

Written and Performed by Nat Cassidy
Directed by DeLisa M. White
March 2011, Manhattan Theatre Source

  • "A deliciously creepy evening full of surprise and frisson ... Very learned and highly entertaining [with] exciting and daring risks ... Nat Cassidy and Greg Oliver Bodine have devised an evening that puts us smack in Lovecraft’s territory of the weird and wild ... Clever writing complemented by excellent sound and light make for a most entertaining evening ... A near-perfect horror fest... The audience, breath held, hang[s] on every sound and word. This is pure storytelling." 
    - Nita Congress, nytheatre.com

  • "Nat Cassidy is obviously a talented performer and writer!"
    - The Village Voice
 
  • "Truly amazing ... Things at the Doorstep [is] an unexpectedly brilliant mediation on the use and function of horror, on H.P. Lovecraft himself, on the supernatural, on storytelling, on death, on hope. ... A play creepy and magical enough to do old H.P. proud. ... I'm still thinking about it, days later."
    - Tor.com

  • "Successful for so many reasons ... A true treat ... Entertaining, educational and strangely unsettling. Any fan of horror in general shouldn't miss this show ... Riveting." 
    - Weston Clay, Theatre Is Easy

  • "It is the most delightful thing we have ever seen anyone pull off on a stage, anywhere, ever, and if you are in New York you must go see it. You must. You REALLY MUST. Go. GO."
    - The Rejectionist, The Rejectionist

ANY DAY NOW

Written by Nat Cassidy
World Premiere Directed by Nat Cassidy
January 2009, Manhattan Theatre Source

  • "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: Elyse Mirto and Paige Allen are excellent as April and Beverly (with Mirto doing a remarkable transformation of her character as the events of the story wear her down); Anna O'Donoghue is very convincing as the college-dropout Jackie; Tim Ewing and Arthur Aulisi are invaluable as the sisters' husbands (Ewing plays the henpecked David with enormous dignity, while Aulisi makes the about-to-be-divorced Josh enormously likable and ineffably sad); and Waltrudis Buck and Anthony Spaldo anchor the play as the parents. Spaldo's role is almost entirely silent and he is spectacularly convincing as a specimen of the undead just a few feet away from the spectators. 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

  • "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. [P]laywright/director Nat Cassidy [does a] wonderful job. . . . [The play] delivers, with a surprising ending that holds the audience in the palm of its hand. . . [E]xceptional . . . [Keeps] the audience fascinated for three hours. This is like Sam Sheppard 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. . . . [T]he 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). But Mr. Cassidy has directed his play well, and cast it soundly with actors who bring conviction to it, and fill it with humor and pathos. It's a fine cast of seven, an ensemble that plays as though it were in the middle of a long run, which is meant as high compliment indeed. . . . [T]ight, suspenseful and scary."
    - Richard Seff, D.C. Theatre Scene


  • Playbill: Nominated for Outstanding Director (Nat Cassidy) and Outstanding Actress in a Lead Role (Elyse Mirto) for the 2009 New York Innovative Theatre Awards!
  • Playbill: Winner, Outstanding Actress in a Lead Role (Elyse Mirto)!


REGIONAL PRODUCTIONS:
October 2012
American Theatre Company
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Directed by Robert Walters

  • “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"

THE RECKONING OF KIT & LITTLE BOOTS

Written by Nat Cassidy
Directed by Neal Freeman
June 2008, The Gallery Players, Manhattan Theatre Source
 

  • "Caligula is a fab character, and an irresistible one, and David Ian Lee seems to be having a blast bringing him to life. He gets to recount anecdote after anecdote of Caligula's astonishing, depraved, mythic existence: how his grandmother Livia murdered her own husband and tricked Caligula into murdering his own father; how (and why) Caligula tried to have his horse elected to the Senate; how the great love of Caligula's life was his sister Drucilla. Cassidy seems particularly fascinated by the sexual excesses of this character, and descriptions of acts of incest and more pepper Caligula's accounts of his life here.But fun in its way as this all is, the heart of Cassidy's play—and the best parts of it—have nothing to do with the Roman emperor. Marlowe is the play's protagonist, after all, and it is what he learns from his experiences with his roommate Thomas Kyd (also a playwright, though a lesser one: he wrote The Spanish Tragedy), his comrade William Shakespeare, and his employer Sir Francis Walsingham that really fuel this Reckoning.

    What I liked best about the play is the way that Cassidy contemporizes Marlowe's existence without in any way diminishing it. Kit is a twentysomething overgrown kid, grappling with the same kinds of things not-quite-mature twentysomething wannabe-artists grapple with in 2008. His roommate is a slob and, worse, has just had a huge hit show even though everyone knows he's an inferior talent. His pal William (whom he helped by ghost-writing parts of his first hit play) seems unable to do wrong, career-wise, even though he's a bit of a klutz and lacks Kit's university education and sophistication. His day job (as a spy, for the Queen's henchman Walsingham) is a major headache and a time-stealer (and there may be a bit of sexual harassment going on as well). And his failed romance with an actor...well, he just doesn't want to talk about it.

    Cassidy nails what's universal about a character like Marlowe; and when the focus stays on what Marlowe can and should be learning from his chaotic life,     Reckoning is at its strongest. The contrast between Marlowe's academic approach to writing and Shakespeare's unexplainable writing-from-the-heart is particularly central to Cassidy's theme . . . Cassidy himself plays Marlowe, and he's terrific . . . One thing's certain: there's talent aplenty on display here. Cassidy is clearly a young theatre artist to watch."
    - Martin Denton, Nytheatre.com

  • "This incredibly fun show about the death and legacy of Christopher Marlowe (sort of) and his failed attempt to write a play about Caligula came from the same creative duo that helped create Sleeper (Nat Cassidy and David Ian Lee). Marlowe is working on a drama about Caligula when an assassin plunges a knife into Marlowe's eye. As Marlowe dies, he revisits his own life and Caligula's (who died at the same age as Marlowe). In addition to being well acted by Cassidy and Lee as Marlowe and Caligula, respectively, with a delightful turn by Keith Foster who portrays William Shakespeare as a sweet-natured naïf, The Reckoning of Kit & Little Boots is a very inventive and funny play that gives Marlowe the Charlie Kaufman treatment."
    - James Comtois, Jamespeak, #6 in his "Top 10 of 2008"

  • Playbill: Nominated for Outstanding Production, Outstanding Full-Length Script (Nat Cassidy), and Outstanding Actor in a Lead Role (David Ian Lee) for the 2009 New York Innovative Theatre Awards!
  • Playbill: Winner, Outstanding Full-Length Script (Nat Cassidy)!

SLEEPER

Written by David Ian Lee
Directed by Nat Cassidy

  • "Sleeper written by David Ian Lee and directed by Nat Cassidy, is an enormously serious play about, principally, the need for forceful and positive political action in America. . . . Lee's point is very well taken; and in this critical election year, much of what's on his mind should be on the minds of many. . . . [There are] solid performances. Cassidy's direction shrewdly balances moments of humor with the mostly grim situations and issues of the play, and keeps things fluid throughout. SLEEPER is laudable for its ambition and its serious sense of purpose."
- Martin Denton, Nytheatre.com

  • "A lot of it is funny, and all of it is suspenseful. The cast is crazy good. The direction keeps everything light and fast, which is essential in a play this intense.  It's definitely one of those major commitment plays (in terms of emotions, time, and intellectual heavy lifting), but it's worth it, and you should see it."
- Mac Rogers  www.slowlearner.typepad.com
  
  • "Rarely does Indie Theater successfully lay claim to the same territory as Angels in America and Syriana, but Sleeper does.  Dynamically directed by Nat Cassidy, the performances are uniformly superb. The dialogue is intelligent, full of humor and horror.  I love theater that shocks me out of complacency, and Sleeper does that and more."
- Vincent Marano, Playwright (La Vigilia, Note to Self) 
 
  • 'This is the kind of theatre we need to be producing in New York:  It's relevant (politically and socially) and very well done.'
- Norah Turnham, Producer & Director 

  • One of the things that saves Sleeper from being merely a position paper against the Bush administration's foreign policy is that it is populated with well-rounded, believable characters, not archetypes or mouthpieces. Right-wing characters are smart and sympathetic, left-wing characters are phony and hypocritical. A visceral and cerebral show that deals with the political as well as the personal, and astutely explores why and how there's often a divide between the two."
—James Comtois, Jamespeak, #7 in his "Top 10 of 2008"