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, The
Jack Cole Project (dir. Chet Walker), and a number of independent films including
Clear Blue Tuesday,
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,
Idaho Shakespeare Festival, and
The Old Globe. As an educator specializing in entertainment industry topics and audition technique, he has taught
master classes and workshops at
Baldwin Wallace University,
Clarion University of Pennsylvania,
Elon University,
Indiana University,
Kent State University,
New York University,
Northwestern University,
Ohio Northern University,
Ohio University,
Otterbein University,
Pace University,
SUNY New Paltz,
The University of New Hampshire,
The University of the Arts, and also throughout Europe. In 2013, he cast the world premiere of
Robert Wuhl's play
Hit-Lit. He is particularly known for his collaborations with contemporary musical theatre writers, including
Gerard Alessandrini,
Neil Berg,
Randy Blair,
Douglas J. Cohen,
Joe DiPietro,
Tim Drucker,
Kait Kerrigan,
Timothy Huang,
Bree Lowdermilk,
Ryan Scott Oliver,
Richard Maltby, Jr., and
David Shire and artists including
Hinton Battle,
Sheryl Kaller,
Richard Kind,
Dan Knechtges,
Baayork Lee,
John McDaniel,
Joe Morton,
Billy Porter,
Lonny Price,
Randy Skinner,
Alex Timbers, and
BD Wong. He is a member of the
Casting Society of America. ==Education==