Have Another with Nat Cassidy, AT THE BREAKAWAY

(Photo by Alisha Spielmann & Isaiah Tanenbaum of Sol Crespo and Jane Lincoln Taylor at the 2014 Flux Retreat workshop of At the Breakaway.)

To prepare for our next Have Another Retreat Harvest (RSVP here), we asked our contributing playwrights some hard-hitting, incisive questions about their work and the Retreat experience. Up next: the octagonally-talented Nat Cassidy, talking about his play, At the Breakaway.

Tell us a little about your play, At the Breakaway.
Oh, it’s your standard “slacker comedy set in a space refueling station in the middle of deep space that wrestles with the human disconnect resultant from too much technology which quickly turns dramatic and action-packed when our layabout protagonists are besieged by a band of genocidal maniacs and charming space rebels in a situation that was inspired by the crisis in Darfur” play. I’m sure you’ve seen it before.

What was your experience like working on this play at the Flux Retreat?
An absolute blast and privilege. We cut it into two parts and threw both of them up on their feet and, holy crap, it actually kinda worked. It was so tremendously helpful and exhilarating.

Please share with us a favorite Flux Retreat memory.
Four words: Isaiah Tanenbaum, Space Explorer
Four other words: Isaiah Tanenbaum, Nudity Enthusiast

This event is called “Have Another.” If you’re drinking more than one, what’s your drink of choice?
I’m a kinda notorious Girl Drink Drunk. I’m not ashamed. You give me something sweet and delicious and I will guzzle it like a camel at a goddamn oasis. But, for nights that I don’t plan on regretting, I’m more than content with a port or a prosecco or a nice (preferably fruit-infused) beer, because I am the paragon of manliness.

What projects do you have coming up that we should know about?
I’m incredibly thrilled and honored to be one of four playwrights being showcased and developed in this year’s ESPA Drills at Primary Stages. My three-act kitchen-sink zombie drama Any Day Now has been undergoing a thorough reworking and will be presented at The Duke Theatre on August 19th at 8pm, directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel. It’s open to the public, it’s free, and there are a lot of seats, so please come!! Then after that (i.e., the day after that), I’ll be appearing in Adaptive Arts’ devised adaptation of Faust, written by some playwright (whose name rhymes with Shmus Ghoulenburg), and running for just four performances. It’s a really lovely script and an incredible group of people, so I highly recommend checking it out. Then I’m directing a children’s show, which can be essentially summed up as “Beckett for Babies” in September. And then getting all my ducks in a row to produce a script of mine in February 2015, which we’ve worked on in some Flux Sundays: The Temple, a horror story about a bunch of German sailors trapped in a sunken U-Boat during WWII, loosely based on an H.P. Lovecraft story. If you wanna help produce it, let me know. I’ll need all the help I can get.

Nat Cassidy is is an award-winning playwright and actor and a sandwich-winning musician. He likes to write about scary things. His plays include The Reckoning of Kit & Little Boots (NY Innovative Theatre Award winner), Any Day Now (NY Innovative Theatre Award winner), I Am Providence (NY Innovative Theatre Award winner), Old Familiar Faces(NY Innovative Theatre Award nominee), The Eternal Husband, Songs of Love: A Theatrical Mixtape, Pierce, Goldsboro, The Temple, and At the Breakaway. His work been produced and/or developed at The Kennedy Center, Primary Stages, 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, First Floor Theatre (Chicago), American Theatre Company (Oklahoma), World’s Stage (Wisconsin), and others. His scripts been published by New York Theatre Experience, Smith & Kraus, Applause, and Indie Theatre Now. He was one of three librettists in the inaugural American Opera Initiative at The Kennedy Center, and was commissioned to write a libretto which The Washington Times called “brilliant” and “remarkable.” and is a current participant in Primary Stages’ ESPA Drills 2014. www.natcassidy.com