The Actual Dance with Sam Simon Cast

Samuel A. Simon (Playwright and Performer)
Sam describes his work with The Actual Dance as his “fourth age.” He comes to it after a career as a prominent member of America’s consumer movement. Trained as a lawyer, he started his career as one of the original members of Ralph Nader’s first legal advocacy group in Washington, DC in 1970. After a stint in the US Army as a JAG Captain, Sam returned to work for Ralph Nader and started his own consulting firm. In 2008, following the sale of his consumer affairs firm in Washington, Sam became a senior fellow with Intersections International, a non-profit social justice initiative of the Collegiate Church of New York. He transitioned from that work to serve on its advisory board in 2013. He began to devote himself full time to The Actual Dance. Sam returned to theater as an avocation in the late 1990s. He was new to play writing, but had been active in community theater in the Northern Virginia/Washington DC area for about 15 years.
Chuk Obasi (Performer)
Chuk Obasi began taking on the role of Sam in The Actual Dance in 2016, drawn by the opportunity to reimagine the telling of Mr. Simon’s story. Obasi is an actor/director, dancer/choreographer, and writer/poet with over twelve years of professional experience nationally and internationally. He is also a teaching artist and public speaker, having participated in speaking engagements and artistic residencies on various topics and artistic disciplines at locations across the country. Obasi holds a bachelor of arts degree from SUNY Geneseo, where he studied communication with a double minor in musical theatre and dance. Obasi currently serves as Artist-in-Residence at Intersections International, choreographer for STAR Theatre at the Director’s Company, and actor/writer with TE’A (Theatre, Engagement & Action). He also recently worked with the National Dance Institute (Teaching Artist), Village Playback Theatre (Performer), and Galli Theatre (Actor).