Actor Dan Nessel is relatively new to the stages of the Monterey Peninsula, having arrived in Monterey in the Spring of '95, but he has already been in five plays.

Dan made his performing debut as a twelve-year old ventriloquist at his local church in St. Paul, Minnesota. "Danny O'Day (the dummy) and Danny (the ventriloquist)" was so well-received that Dan had to bring the act to the community theater for five more shows. Not long after, he became a part of the Chimera Children's Theater presenting scenes from AESOP'S FABLES. He completed his elementary-school acting experience singing the lead in the eighth-grade musical, ROCK 'N ROLL.

Despite his involvement in high school athletics: football, baseball, wrestling and diving, Dan found time to act and won a regional award in a one-act play festival. His first high-school job, making pizzas, included his singing "Happy Birthday" to customers.

He continued his acting career at Augsberg College in downtown Minneapolis, performing in THE MATCHMAKER, under the direction of the respected director Aileen Cole. During that first college summer, Dan won the lead in BILLINGSLEY BRIGHT, a melodrama, which ran in repertoire with a variety show at a Renaissance Fair. Cast and crew that summer slept in an old barn. The show's director, Gary Parker, influenced Dan to continue acting, and he performed in many college shows, including THE TAMING OF THE SHREW and THE DINING ROOM.

While playing a villain in THE ROBBER BRIDEGROOM, he realized that he liked playing the villain and next played that greatest of villains, MACBETH, in his senior year. For that part, he grew a beard! He had to shave it off during the play's run, however, to do a military commercial -- and then had to add a false beard. While still in college, he directed his first play, Sam Shepard's RED CROSS.

After graduating from college in 1988, Dan performed at the nationally renowned Tyrone Guthrie theater. He also played a Greek soldier in the classical play THE BACCHAE. For this role he had to spend an hour and a half painting every inch of his body grayish-green. While at the Guthrie, he learned more about acting techniques and worked in other professional and community theaters. He also choreographed the fight scenes in TOM SAWYER and acted in summer stock.

Dan was able to combine his two interests, theater and sports, by doing commercials in both baseball and football uniforms. After working in Minneapolis a couple of years as a waiter and a bartender to support his acting, Dan moved to Texas for two months, where he was paid to tour the schools doing educational theater and performing magic tricks.

He left Texas for Los Angeles, found an agent and landed some parts in commercials in Orange County and played the role of Turk in COME BACK LITTLE SHEBA. An invitation from a Swedish goddess to travel through Europe took him through many cities and into the Austrian Alps, where he fell in love with mountains and with skiing.

His new interest led him to leave Southern California for an unexpected three-year stint in Tahoe, where he indulged in all the outdoor Tahoe activities and ran Grime Fighters, his own commercial cleaning business.

Next he spent a year in San Francisco, where he continued acting, especially in a stage production of A FEW GOOD MEN and in the film DOWN PERISCOPE. In the windy city, he managed a retail store and worked as a sales rep for Nordic Track.

In 1995, he was given the opportunity to manage a store in Monterey. Soon afterwards, he opened his own store in the Del Monte Shopping Center for the holiday season.

Shortly after reaching the Monterey Peninsula, Dan called Marcia Hovick to read for Staff Players and was dual cast in OUR TOWN. Next he danced the part of the absentee father in the MPC production of DANCING AT LUGHNASA, moving, Fred Astaire-style, in and out of the life of one of the female characters. He appeared again at MPC, this time singing as well as dancing in RED HOT AND COLE. Dan then played the role of Marco the Magnificent in MPC's CARNIVAL, demonstrating how well he had perfected his earlier interest in magic tricks. Dan's fifth appearance on the Monterey Peninsula was in the Unicorn Production of The HOSTAGE, in which he played an English soldier held hostage. Look for Dan in the Staff Players production of THE LONG CHRISTMAS DINNER.

...and in the Unicorn world-premiere, POSTDATED, in January.

Ed.

Dan Nessel in
THE LONG CHRISTMAS DINNER - Staff Players
December 1996