Nick was born and raised in New York and received a BA in History / Special Honors Curriculum (Phi Beta Kappa) from Hunter College, and an MFA in Directing from Columbia University, where he studied under Liviu Ciulei and Judith Malina. Nick also spent a semester abroad at Oxford University in England where he studied history and architecture. He is a member of Actors Equity Association (AEA) and the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers (SSDC), and recently served as an elected member of the Board of Directors of the University / Resident Theatre Association (U/RTA).

Nick has worked professionally on and off Broadway, in Regional Theatre, in Stock and abroad, first as an actor and then a director. He has directed a wide range of material, and his work has received critical acclaim in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times and Opera News, among others. He is the co-founder of the Garson Theatre Company (GTC) in Santa Fe, New Mexico, a professional company dedicated to the presentation of new plays. He served as the GTC’s Artistic Director from 2002-2005 and produced, among other things, a festival of the work of José Rivera with the playwright in residence.

Nick was an Artistic Associate of the Classic Stage Company (CSC) in New York from 1990 – 1992, working closely with Artistic Director Carey Perloff. From 1992 – 1995 he was an Artistic Associate of the American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) in San Francisco, where he taught and directed and was the Associate and Supervising Director of their acclaimed production of both parts of Angels in America, working with Mark Wing-Davey and Tony Kushner. At A.C.T. Nick also served as Project Director under a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to help develop the Conservatory’s curriculum. In addition, he has taught and/or directed at Yale University, Union College, for a study abroad program hosted by the National Royal Theatre in London, and at the College of Santa Fe, where he collaborated with Carol Burnett and students on Once upon a Mattress.

Nick continues a long-time association with composer Steve Reich and video artist Beryl Korot, having directed the international tour of The Cave (Europe, Tokyo, New York (Lincoln Center), and London (Barbican Centre, B.I.T.E); and he directed the world premiere and international tour of the Pulitzer Prize finalist Three Tales, a mixed media piece about technology (Vienna, Paris, Berlin, London, Perth, Hong Kong, Spoleto Festival USA, and the BAM Next Wave Festival in New York). He will restage The Cave this November in Paris, Caen and Normandy, France. Upcoming projects also include a L.O.R.T production of M. Butterfly, and working with playwright and Academy Award nominee José Rivera (Motorcycle Diaries) on his new film Celestina, adapted from his play Cloud Tectonics. Celestina will be produced by Walter Salles (Central Station, Motorcycle Diaries).

Most recently Nick was Professor, Head of the Graduate Directing Program and the Joseph Weinberger Chair of Acting at the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music (CCM). At CCM he taught and directed for the Departments of Drama, Musical Theatre and Opera, and was a strong advocate for new plays, presenting numerous readings of the work of established and emerging writers whom he brought to campus. He created a collaborative piece about Cincinnati race relations and the tumultuous riots of 2001, which was presented at the National Underground Freedom Center Museum in March of 2007. He is very pleased to join the faculty here at Stony Brook and to serve as the new Chair and Artistic Director of the Department of Theatre Arts.

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