Nat Cassidy

Last updated
Nat Cassidy
Nat Cassidy.jpg
Born
Nathaniel Cassidy

(1981-09-25) September 25, 1981 (age 43)
Raleigh, North Carolina, United States
Occupation(s)Actor, writer, director, musician
AwardsNew York Innovative Theatre Awards (Outstanding Full Length Script, 2009; Outstanding Solo Performance, 2011), Route 66 International Film Festival (Best Lead Actor, 2013)
Website http://www.natcassidy.com

Nat Cassidy (born September 25, 1981) is an American novelist, actor, playwright, and musician based out of New York City, New York, United States. He grew up in Phoenix, Arizona and attended Horizon High School, after which he received his BFA at the University of Arizona.

Contents

Career

Actor

Cassidy has appeared as an actor in numerous Off- and Off-Off-Broadway productions. [1] He has also appeared in film, television, and web projects, including the acclaimed webseries High Maintenance. [2] In 2013, Cassidy starred in the independent horror-comedy film They Will Outlive Us All, which won numerous awards throughout the festival circuit, [3] including winning Cassidy Best Actor in Chicago's Route 66 International Film Festival. [4] Ain't It Cool News said of Cassidy's performance that he is "talented enough to carry this entire film." [5] Also in 2013, he was nominated for a New York Innovative Theatre Award for Outstanding Solo Performance, for the one-man play Generic Magic Realism, by Edmond Malin. [6] Cassidy was inducted into the Indie Theater Hall of Fame for his contributions to the NY independent theatre scene, and was described as "an actor, director, and playwright of surprising range and depth." [7]

In 2017, Cassidy joined fellow New York independent theatre artists Mac Rogers, Jordana Williams, and Sean Williams to form Gideon Media, a company dedicated to producing "complex, riveting genre entertainment, centered on pulse-pounding tales of science fiction and horror." [8] Along with the new podcast imprint Tor Labs (an imprint of Tor Books), Gideon Media produced their debut podcast, the acclaimed [9] [10] [11] serialized sci-fi noir drama Steal the Stars (written by Rogers). Nat performed the role of xenobiologist Lloyd, as well as wrote the novelization of the podcast, which is published by Tor Books. [12]

Nat frequently continues his work with Gideon Media, also appearing in their audio adaptations of the movie Witness [13] (published by Audible), the play Almalem, [14] and the original, multi-season production Give Me Away. [15]

Playwright

Cassidy has a reputation for writing "darkly comic plays with one foot in horror and the other in literary allusion," and often feature historical characters. [16] NYTheatre.com called him "a seismic talent" [17] and the theater podcast Maxamoo described him as "one of the hottest young playwrights in" New York City. [18]

His playscripts have been about, among other things, Shakespeare, Charles Lamb and Mary Lamb, H.P. Lovecraft, nuclear mutation, President Franklin Pierce, zombies, Dostoevsky, Nazi Germany, and genital warts. [19]

In 2009, Cassidy's "metaphysical buddy comedy" about an imagined relationship between Christopher Marlowe and Caligula, The Reckoning of Kit & Little Boots, was nominated for three New York Innovative Theatre Awards and took home the award for Outstanding Full-Length Script. [20] His play Any Day Now was also nominated for two NY IT Awards that same year, and took home Outstanding Actress in a Lead Role (Elyse Mirto). In 2011, his Lovecraft-inspired one-man show, I Am Providence or, All I Really Needed to Know about the Stygian Nightmare into Which Mankind Will Inevitably Be Devoured, Its Fruitless Screams of Agony Resounding in the Unending Chasm of Indifferent Space as It Is Digested by Squamous and Eldritch Horrors beyond Comprehension for All of Eternity, I Learned from Howard Phillips Lovecraft, won the NY IT Award for Outstanding Solo Performance. [21] In 2014, his play Old Familiar Faces was nominated for four NYIT Awards, including Outstanding Full-Length Script, Outstanding Ensemble, Outstanding Lead Actor, and Outstanding Lead Actress. [22] In 2015, his play The Temple, or, Lebensraum, another Lovecraft-inspired play set during Black May, was nominated for seven NYIT Awards, including Outstanding Full-Length Script, Outstanding Production, Outstanding Actor in a Lead Role (which Matthew Trumbull, the play's lead, won), Outstanding Sound Design (which its sound designer, Jeanne Travis, won), Outstanding Lighting Design, Outstanding Costume Design, and Outstanding Scenic Design. [23]

In 2012, Cassidy was one of four librettists commissioned by The Kennedy Center/Washington National Opera in the first-ever American Opera Initiative. [24] With composer Scott Perkins, he wrote the short opera "Charon," a loose adaptation of a story fragment by Lord Dunsany, which the Washington Times called "remarkable," "brilliant," and that "Mr. Cassidy’s libretto is what any composer could want." [25] His work has been produced mainly in New York City, but has also seen productions across the country, including Oklahoma, [26] Wisconsin, [27] and Chicago [28] His plays have been published by Samuel French, [29] Broadway Play Publishing, New York Theater Experience, Smith & Kraus, Applause Books, and Indie Theater Now.

Novelist

Nat has been named one "of the best horror writers of this generation [30] " and one of "the writers shaping horror's next golden age [31] " by Esquire.

His first published book, a novelization of the podcast Steal the Stars, was published on November 7, 2017, by Tor Books [32] and named one of the "best new books of November 2017" by the Chicago Review of Books [33] and one of the best books of 2017 [34] by NPR.

Nat's original debut novel, Mary: An Awakening of Terror, was published on July 19, 2022, by Tor Nightfire. It was named one of the best books of that year by Esquire, Paste Magazine, [35] CrimeReads, [36] and The Lineup, [37] and one of "the best books for spooky season" [34] by Harper's Bazaar. In 2024, Goodreads included it as one of "the most popular horror novels of the past five years [38] " and its audiobook, narrated by Susan Bennett, was named one of the "Top 100 Horror Books of All Time" [39] by Audible.

Nat's follow up novel, Nestlings, was published on October 31, 2023, by Tor Nightfire. It was named one of the best books of that year by NPR, [40] the New York Public Library, [41] Esquire, [42] and others.

In 2024, he published a novella (Rest Stop) and two chapbooks with the independent publishers, Shortwave. [43] Rest Stop was named one of the best horror books of that year by Den of Geek [44] and Esquire. [45]

In 2024, the Line-Up described Nat as the "Stephen King of TikTok," due to the "many readers including [his works] on their top reading lists. [46] "

His next novel, When the Wolf Comes Home, is due to be published by Tor Nightfire in April 2025. [47]

Appearances

Television

YearFilmRoleNotes
2013 High Maintenance NatOriginal webseries episode: "Brad Pitts"
2015 The Following JoshEpisode 310: "Evermore"
2015 Red Oaks Sous ChefEpisode 105: "Forth of July"
2015 The Affair ModeratorEpisode 208
2017 Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Kevin DorseyEpisode 1808: "Chasing Theo"
2017 Bull (2016 TV Series) Brian McCannonEpisode 206: "The Exception to the Rule"
2017 Blue Bloods (TV series) Duane PitneyEpisode 808: "Pick Your Poison"
2018 The Good Fight Bernard RadoshEpisode 204: "Day 429"
2018 The Last O.G. Fast Food ManagerEpisode 102: "Bobo Beans"
2018 Quantico (TV Series) Lester Joe BlanksEpisode 302: "Fear and Flesh"
2019 Instinct Jay MosebyEpisode 204: "Big Splash"
2020 The Iliza Shleshinger Sketch Show ThomazEpisode 105
2021 FBI Bill McCainEpisode 409: "Unfinished Business"

Film

Off-Broadway and independent theatre

Scripts

Full-length

Short plays

Novels

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References

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  2. ↑ "High Maintenance". Helpingyoumaintain.com. Retrieved 15 February 2015.
  3. ↑ "THEY WILL OUTLIVE US ALL" . Retrieved 15 February 2015.
  4. ↑ "Route 66 Film Festival". Route66filmfestival.net. Retrieved 15 February 2015.
  5. ↑ "Bugs, mold, zombies, ghosts, & dinosaurs! AICN HORROR says Everybody Dies Film Festival!". Aint It Cool News. 13 September 2013. Retrieved 15 February 2015.
  6. ↑ "Innovative Theatre Awards Held Sept. 30; Bedbugs!!!, Astoria's Blood Brothers, LaMaMa Among 2013 Nominees". Playbill. Retrieved 15 February 2015.
  7. ↑ "Nat Cassidy - Indie Theater Hall of Fame". indietheaterhalloffame.com.
  8. ↑ "About". Gideon Media. Retrieved 2023-06-17.
  9. ↑ "Why Tor Books' first podcast drama Steal the Stars should steal your attention". Ars Technica. Retrieved 2017-11-09.
  10. ↑ "Behind the Scenes at Tor Labs". Chicago Review of Books. 2017-09-26. Retrieved 2017-11-09.
  11. ↑ Roy, Nilanjana (2017-09-29). "The podcasts that give voice to a new form of storytelling" . Financial Times . Retrieved 2017-11-09.
  12. ↑ Teitelbaum, Ilana (2017-11-07). "A Science Fiction Tale to Steal Your Heart: A Peek Behind the Scenes of "Steal the Stars"". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2017-11-09.
  13. ↑ "Witness | Podcasts on Audible". audible.com.
  14. ↑ "ALMELEM". Gideon Media. Retrieved 2024-11-08.
  15. ↑ "GIVE ME AWAY". Gideon Media. Retrieved 2024-11-08.
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  17. ↑ "Old Familiar Faces". Nytheatre.com. Retrieved 15 February 2015.
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  21. ↑ "IT Award Winners Announced; Gallery Players' Drowsy Chaperone Takes Four Honors". Playbill. Retrieved 15 February 2015.
  22. 1 2 "NYIT Awards, Celebrating Off-Off-Broadway, Are Presented Today". playbill.com.
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  32. ↑ "Behind the Scenes with Tor Labs: How Steal the Stars Went from Podcast Sensation to Full-Length Novel". The B&N Sci-Fi and Fantasy Blog. 2017-11-06. Retrieved 2017-11-09.
  33. ↑ "The Best New Books of November 2017". 2017-11-03.
  34. 1 2 El-Mohtar, Amal. "Steal The Stars". NPR's Book Concierge. Retrieved 2024-11-08.
  35. ↑ "The Best Horror Books of 2022". pastemagazine.com.
  36. ↑ "The Best Horror Fiction of 2022". CrimeReads. 2022-12-21. Retrieved 2024-11-08.
  37. ↑ "The Best Debut Horror Novels of 2022". The Lineup. 2022-11-09. Retrieved 2024-11-08.
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  45. ↑ "The Best Horror Books of 2023 Will Scare You Sh*tless". Esquire. 2023-12-14. Retrieved 2024-11-08.
  46. ↑ "Where to Start With Nat Cassidy: The "Stephen King" of TikTok". The Lineup. 2024-10-18. Retrieved 2024-11-08.
  47. ↑ "When the Wolf Comes Home". us.macmillan.com.
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  51. ↑ Jaworowski, Ken (2012-05-06). "'The Runner Stumbles' at the ArcLight Theater". The New York Times. Archived from the original on February 7, 2015. Retrieved June 18, 2014.
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  56. ↑ Mancuso, Anne; Otis, John (2011-03-17). "Spare Times for March 18–24". The New York Times. Nytimes.com. Retrieved 15 February 2015.
  57. ↑ "FringeNYC: Songs of Love: A Theatrical Mixtape". Nytimes.com. Retrieved 15 February 2015.
  58. ↑ "The Blood Brothers present Bedlam Nightmares: Execution Day". Nytimes.com. Retrieved 15 February 2015.
  59. ↑ Adam McGovern (2012-10-11). "An iPhone Gives You More Time for Depravity in New Play Series Raw Feed". Tor.com. Retrieved 15 February 2015.
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  61. ↑ "The Blood Brothers Present . . . Bedlam Nightmares: Shock Treatments". Nytheaternow.com. Archived from the original on July 19, 2014. Retrieved 15 February 2015.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  62. ↑ Byrne Harrison. "StageBuzz.com". Stagebuzz.com. Retrieved 15 February 2015.
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