Casting Director Michael Cassara, CSA To Lead Free Masterclass At New York Film Academy

Theatredor is set to host The Casting Process: A Masterclass with Michael Cassara, CSA on Saturday, August 8, 2026, from 2:00 to 3:30pm at the New York Film Academy, 26 Broadway, 12th Floor. Admission is free and open to performers aged 18 and over. Seats are limited and advance RSVP is required at masterclass.theatredor.com.

Cassara, whose office has cast more than 500 theatre and film productions, serves as resident casting director for the National Alliance for Musical Theatre and previously served as resident casting director for the New York Musical Festival from 2007 to 2019.

His credits include Spamilton, Forbidden Broadway, Gigantic at the Vineyard Theatre, I Love Lucy Live on Stage, and productions for The Old Globe, the Denver Center, Asolo Repertory Theatre and Ogunquit Playhouse, along with the film The Hyperglot, which earned an Artios Award nomination for excellence in casting. A longtime educator, he has taught masterclasses at leading training programs including NYU, The Boston Conservatory, Northwestern University and Yale University.

The 90 minute session examines how casting decisions are actually made: choosing and cutting audition material, self tapes, taking direction in the room, and how actors stay on a casting office's radar. It concludes with an open question and answer period that continues for as long as the room has questions.

"The questions actors most want to ask a casting director rarely get answered in an audition room," said Nathalie O'Sullivan, co-founder of Theatredor. "This session exists to answer them, openly and free of charge."

The session is educational in nature; it is not an audition and does not constitute an offer of employment or representation.

For more information and to register visit masterclass.theatredor.com.