Nick Sandys

Bio

Nick was elected to the College of Fight Masters in 2023 and has been a Certified Teacher and Fight Director with the Society of American Fight Directors for over 30 years, leading hundreds of students through the SAFD’s Skills Proficiency Tests since 2001. His professional credits include: Lyric Opera of Chicago, where he has designed combat for over 70 productions including Carmen, Macbeth, Don Giovanni, Wozzeck, Bel Canto, The Passenger, Il Trovatore, Giulio Cesare, The Ring Cycle, Otello, Billy Budd, the world premieres of William Bolcom’s A View From The Bridge (directed by Frank Galati) and A Wedding (directed by Robert Altman), as well the recent revivals of West Side Story and Jesus Christ Superstar. He also directed Lyric’s 2019 revival of Strauss’ Elektra. He has remounted his fights for Il Trovatore (2009) and Giulio Cesare (2013) at The Metropolitan Opera in NYC, as well as choreographing the Met’s historic 2014 production of Borodin’s Prince Igor, all seen on national HD broadcasts. He has also choreographed violence for: Goodman Theatre (over 30 shows, including The Cherry Orchard, Swing State, The Iceman Cometh (BAM 2015), the Mamet and Albee festivals, and the world premieres of Ruined, Stage Kiss, and August Wilson’s Gem Of The Ocean); Steppenwolf Theatre (Tony Award-winning Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf [Broadway 2012], The Seafarer, Hot L Baltimore); as well as for Northlight Theatre, Lookingglass Theatre, Indiana Repertory, Dallas Opera, Canadian Opera, Portland Opera, Florentine Opera, Dallas Theater Center, Next Theatre, Shattered Globe, Timeline, Eclipse, MPAACT, and many other regional theatres and colleges. His fight choreography has received four Joseph Jefferson Nominations, winning in 2008 for Shattered Globe’s Requiem For A Heavyweight.

Nick has been adjunct faculty at The Theatre School @ DePaul University since 1994, and was awarded the 2019 Adjunct Excellence In Teaching Award. During that time he has choreographed over 75 shows at The Theatre School including recently Good Grief, Henry IV, Sweat, The Rover, Neighborhood 3, Peerless, Luchadora, Richard III, Translation Of Likes, and Joe Turner’s Come And Gone.

Nick is a member of Actors’ Equity Association, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, Screen Actors’ Guild, and American Guild of Musical Artists, and has performed in New York, London, Edinburgh, and Chicago. He was the Artistic Director at Remy Bumppo Theatre Company 2012-2021 and was an Artistic Associate at First Folio Theatre from 2007-2023. He has received another 12 Joseph Jefferson Nominations as an actor, 3 as a director and 5 as a producer, received a 2018 APA Audie Nomination and a 2018 Audiofile Earphones Award for his audiobook narration of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and was named Chicago Magazine’s Best Actor 2011. He is also the recipient of a 2011 Achievement Award from The Meier Charitable Foundation for the Arts. Nick holds an MA from Cambridge University and a PhD (ABD) from Loyola University Chicago in English Literature.