Kyle Cassady returns from (the) New York to bless the Windy City with his Verse Virtuosity. Kyle was in the first Unrehearsed show in Illinois, Bard in the Barn’s “Winter’s Tale.”
Q: You’ve been out of the Unrehearsed game for awhile, up until your triumphant return in last year’s As You Like It, doubling as Charles the Wrestler and Audrey. Now here you are again, back for the Mack. What brings you back to Unrehearsed?
KYLE: I have always loved Unrehearsed. When Bill Kincaid [Head of Acting, Western Illinois University] started it up back around 2006-2007ish I have always been involved and now since moving back from New York and having my schedule allow it, I’m glad to be back.
Q: Do today’s performers seem at all different from back when you were starting out? Are they more or less confident? Are their performance styles different at all?
KYLE: The majority of actors I’ve worked with seem more confident. That comes from doing it over and over again. I also feel that it helps when you have a group of actors who are willing to learn and who really enjoy doing it.
Q: Say, tell us where you’ve been. Where has your theater career taken you, when you’re not running around with a scroll?
KYLE: Like I said earlier, I was in New York from 2009-2012 and I had the lead in the longest running off Broadway play “Line”, also I was heavily involved with the Manhattan cabaret scene. Since moving back to Illinois I have had the fortune to be hired consecutively in 4 Chicago theatre shows since August of 2012. So I’m very fortunate and grateful for the opportunities that have come up for me.
Q: Most of your Unrehearsed experience comes from Bard in the Barn and its recent reincarnation, Revels in the Ravine: both outdoor spaces. Are you nervous about performing in Chicago’s cramped bar venues?
KYLE: I just finished a production of “Zombie Prom” at Mayne Stage Theatre and it was a small space, also when I did “Forever Plaid” for HeartandSoul Productions we were given a very tight space so I’m used to small performance areas.
Q: Do you have a favorite Unrehearsed role to-date?
KYLE: I would have to say my favorite Unrehearsed role is a tossup between Charles the Wrestler in As You Like It or Antigonus in A Winters Tale. It was nice to have the most epic Shakespeare death in my opinion! [Exit, pursued by a bear]
Check out Kyle’s Chicago (Unrehearsed) debut! Come see MacBeth!
November 12 & 19
Justin’s
3358 N Southport Ave
7:30 pm
Suggested Donation of $5
