Marc Casabani

Marc Casabani is of Egyptian nationality. As a young boy, he learned English by watching Sesame Street (1969), Zoom (1972), and The Electric Company (1971). He is a veteran of regional theatre where at Wisdom Bridge Theatre in Chicago his portrayal of Song Liling in David Henry Hwang's M. Butterfly, won him the Chicago Academy of Theater Artists' Artisan Award for Best Actor in a Drama. Marc's more recent theatre credits include his "sensitive yet light heartedly funny" performance of Xavier in December Imbalance. The "calm and intelligent" Ahmed in Divided at the Trueblood Theatre in Anne Arbor, Michigan; the "hilariously funny" Stevey in Allison, also at the Trueblood Theatre. His "edgy portrayal" of a very troubled drug addict named Frankie in the play Miranda at the Third Stage in Burbank, California, led to his first Prime-Time TV role on UPN Channel 13. Some of his most memorable Chicago theatre performances include Peter Cratchit in A Christmas Carol on the Goodman Main Stage and Haemon in Antigone with the Chicago Circle Players at the University of Illinois at Chicago. When he played Theseus in Love of the Nightingale at The Next Theatre Company in Evanston, Illinois, he was able to exercise his classical theatre muscle with a hint of comedic flare. With considerable fondness, he also recalls a small but significant play called Obras written and performed by an unabashed band of merry (sometimes too merry) poets at the Blue Rider Theatre. In the play, Marc portrayed a man so enamored by his meager and wretched neighborhood that he vowed to open the world's eyes to its rich potential. Though overwhelmed by poverty, his poetry and stories of the community were his ticket to a college education. Years later, armed with a new found wisdom, he returned to the old neighborhood and gave back to the very people who, unbeknownst to them, contributed to his success. Other theatre credits include Calcedo in Delirium at The Court Theatre (University of Chicago), Ferdinand in The Tempest (Scenes) with the Chicago Shakespeare Repertory, and Roberto Mendez, Jr. in Absolution with the Pegasus Players at Truman Collage in Chicago. With the Chicago Music Theatre company, Marc also had the pleasure of singing in a full scale musical that toured the Midwest. In the musical Captain Clean, he played a man (Angel Torres) who was obsessed with making his community a better place to live and by teaching kids the dangers of using drugs and alcohol, he showed them that the world had so much more to offer.