Michael Andrew Cassara (born April 14, 1981 in Cleveland Heights, Ohio) is an American

casting director In the performing arts industry such as theatre, film, or television, casting, or a casting call, is a pre-production process for selecting a certain type of actor, dancer, singer, or extra (acting), extra for a particular role or part in a scr ...

, educator, and genealogist. His casting work spans

musicals Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movement ...

, plays, and

films A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

and he has been nominated for two Artios Awards by the Casting Society of America.

Career

Cassara serves as the resident casting director for the New York Musical Theatre Festival, where he has cast more than 70 new musicals since the festival's inception in 2004. Recent New York credits include '' Forbidden Broadway'', ''

Fat Camp In nutrition, biology, and chemistry, fat usually means any ester of fatty acids, or a mixture of such compounds, most commonly those that occur in living beings or in food. The term often refers specifically to triglycerides (triple e ...

'', The '' Jack Cole Project'' (dir. Chet Walker), and a number of independent films including ''

Clear Blue Tuesday ''Clear Blue Tuesday'' is a 2009 musical film directed by Elizabeth Lucas. It premiered at the Quad Cinema in New York City on September 3, 2010. Plot Over the course of seven years, eleven New Yorkers affected by the events of September 11, 2001 ...

'', ''Grantham and Rose'', and ''Contest''. His work has frequently been seen at regional theatres including Gulfshore Playhouse, the Olney Theatre Center, the Goodspeed Opera House, Kitchen Theatre,

Great Lakes Theater Festival Great Lakes Theater, originally known as the Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival, is a professional classic theater company in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1962, Great Lakes is the second-largest Regional theater in the United States, ...

, Idaho Shakespeare Festival, and The Old Globe. As an educator specializing in entertainment industry topics and audition technique, he has taught

master classes A master class is a class given to students of a particular discipline by an expert of that discipline—usually music, but also science, painting, drama, games, or on any other occasion where skills are being developed. "Masterclass" is also ...

and workshops at Baldwin Wallace University, Clarion University of Pennsylvania, Elon University,

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universit ...

Kent State University Kent State University (KSU) is a public research university in Kent, Ohio. The university also includes seven regional campuses in Northeast Ohio and additional facilities in the region and internationally. Regional campuses are located in As ...

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

, Ohio Northern University,

Ohio University Ohio University is a Public university, public research university in Athens, Ohio. The first university chartered by an Act of Congress and the first to be chartered in Ohio, the university was chartered in 1787 by the Congress of the Confeder ...

Otterbein University Otterbein University is a private university in Westerville, Ohio. It offers 74 majors and 44 minors as well as eight graduate programs. The university was founded in 1847 by the Church of the United Brethren in Christ and named for United Bre ...

, Pace University,

SUNY New Paltz The State University of New York at New Paltz (SUNY New Paltz or New Paltz) is a public university in New Paltz, New York. It traces its origins to the New Paltz Classical School, a secondary institution founded in 1828 and reorganized as an ac ...

The University of New Hampshire The University of New Hampshire (UNH) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Durham, New Hampshire. It was founded and incorporated in 1866 as a land grant college in Hanover in connection with Dartmouth College, mo ...

The University of the Arts The University of the Arts (UArts) is a private art university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its campus makes up part of the Avenue of the Arts in Center City, Philadelphia. Dating back to the 1870s, it is one of the oldest schools of art o ...

, and also throughout Europe. In 2013, he cast the world premiere of

Robert Wuhl Robert Wuhl (born October 9, 1951) is an American actor, comedian and writer. He is best known as the creator and star of the television comedy series '' Arliss'' (1996–2002) and for his portrayal of newspaper reporter Alexander Knox in Tim Bu ...

's play ''Hit-Lit''. He is particularly known for his collaborations with contemporary musical theatre writers, including Gerard Alessandrini, Neil Berg,

Randy Blair Randy Blair is an American actor and writer, best known for originating the role of Hipolito/Elton John in the Broadway musical '' Amelie''. His play Mrs. Lowenstein was adapted into a 5 part limited series podcast starring Ann Dowd. Other work as ...

Douglas J. Cohen ''Douglas J. Cohen'' is an American composer and lyricist. He is a member of ASCAP, BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theater Workshop, and the Dramatists Guild of America. Works *''The Big Time'' - Book by Douglas Carter Beane, music & lyrics by Cohen. * ...

Joe DiPietro Joe DiPietro (born 1961) is an American playwright, lyricist and author. He is best known for the Tony Award-winning musical ''Memphis'', for which he won the Tony Awards for Best Book of a Musical and Best Original Score as well as for writin ...

, Tim Drucker,

Kait Kerrigan Kait Kerrigan is an American playwright and musical theater lyricist and book writer. Biography Kait Kerrigan is a playwright and a lyricist and composer of musicals. Originally from Kingston, Pennsylvania, she graduated from Wyoming Valley West ...

Timothy Huang Timothy Huang (Traditional Chinese: 黃明展, Pinyin: Hwang Mingtzan) is a Taiwanese American playwright, actor, composer and lyricist. He is the creator of the award-winning one-man musical, ''The View from Here'', the song cycle ''LINES'', and ...

Bree Lowdermilk Bree Lowdermilk (formerly Brian Lowdermilk) is an American musical theater composer and lyricist. Biography In addition to writing music and lyrics, Lowdermilk is also a music director, arranger, vocal coach, and pianist. They are an alumnus of ...

Ryan Scott Oliver Ryan Scott Oliver (born August 27, 1984) is an American musical theatre composer and lyricist. He is a 2011 Lucille Lortel Award Nominee and the recipient of both the 2009 Jonathan Larson Grant and the 2008 Richard Rodgers Award for Musical Thea ...

Richard Maltby, Jr. Richard Eldridge Maltby Jr. (born October 6, 1937) is an American theatre director and producer, lyricist, and screenwriter. He conceived and directed the only two musical revues to win the Tony Award for Best Musical: '' Ain't Misbehavin ( ...

, and

David Shire David Lee Shire (born July 3, 1937) is an American songwriter and composer of stage Musical theater, musicals, film and television film score, scores. The soundtracks to the 1976 film ''The Big Bus'', ''The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974 f ...

and artists including Hinton Battle, Sheryl Kaller, Richard Kind,

Dan Knechtges Dan Knechtges () is a director and choreographer, for musicals, opera, television, film and music videos.

Baayork Lee Baayork Lee (born December 5, 1946) is an American actress, singer, dancer, choreographer, theatre director, and author. Early life and career Lee was born in New York City's Chinatown, to an Indian mother and Chinese father. She started dancing ...

, John McDaniel, Joe Morton, Billy Porter, Lonny Price,

Randy Skinner Randy Skinner is an American dancer, director and choreographer, primarily for the stage. He has been nominated four times for Tony Awards, three times for Drama Desk Awards, and four times for Outer Critics Circle Awards for choreography. Ear ...

, Alex Timbers, and BD Wong. He is a member of the

Casting Society of America The Casting Society, formerly known as Casting Society of America (CSA), was founded in Los Angeles, California, in 1982 as a Professional association, professional society of about 1,200 Casting (performing arts), casting directors and associate ...

Education

Cassara is a graduate of

Hawken School Hawken School is an independent, coeducational, college preparatory day school in Northeast Ohio. Hawken currently has two main campuses, the Lower and Middle Schools in Lyndhurst and the Upper School in Chester Township, plus a third, an urb ...

and

Otterbein College Otterbein University is a private university in Westerville, Ohio. It offers 74 majors and 44 minors as well as eight graduate programs. The university was founded in 1847 by the Church of the United Brethren in Christ and named for United Bre ...

where he received his BFA in musical theatre.

Genealogist

A lifelong genealogist, Cassara specializes in Italian and Sicilian research and has spoken numerous times at the

RootsTech RootsTech is a family history and technology conference and trade show held annually in the Salt Palace Convention Center, Salt Lake City, Utah. In 2017 it claimed to be the world's largest family-history technology conference. It is the success ...

conference in

Salt Lake City, Utah Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

. He is a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists and holds a Certificate in Genealogical Research from

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...

References

External links

michaelcassara.net
* 1981 births Living people American theatre directors American casting directors Otterbein University alumni {{musical-theat-stub