Stepping Out

A drama with roots in Baldwin

Long Island native's play opens off-Broadway

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Nick Gandiello still remembers his first brush with theater. A teacher at Baldwin High School, T.J. Terranova, encouraged him to audition for a play called “The Middle Ages.”

“She cast me in the lead,” the 29-year-old told Stepping Out. “I still remember her calling me that night and asking me if I wanted to be in that role.”

The theater bug bit and Gandiello never looked back. Now a playwright who lives in Harlem, Gandiello’s latest play opened off-Broadway on Wednesday. “The Wedge Horse” is scheduled to run through Feb. 21.

Like many playwrights, Gandiello’s upbringing is evident in his work. Two previous plays, “Sunrise Highway” and “Oceanside” both are tied to his Long Island roots. “The Wedge Horse” is set in Baldwin.


“I owe quite a bit to Baldwin schools for helping me along in that way,” says Gandiello, who grew up in Baldwin.

Besides Terranova, Gandiello also credits Kevin Harrington, a former English teacher now with Plaza Productions, who directed him in school musicals. “He was influential for me in pursuing” theater, Gandiello says.

He also credits his childhood in Baldwin and the Baldwin community for influencing him. “Growing up in Baldwin, I didn’t realize what a gift it was to grow up in such diversity,” Gandiello says. “When I left town, I realized that’s not typical.”

“Wedge Horse,” a tragedy, examines the long-term results of grief and vengeance, as well as forgiveness. In it, siblings Maddy and Bobby must decide whether to use the memory of a loved one for violence or healing, according to press notes.

“It’s definitely a dark subject,” Gandiello says, but he added that there is some humor, too. “I like to think it’s a funny play.”

Gandiello explained he uses the great tragedy in his own life, the loss of his father when he was 17, to describe the drama’s theme of being an adolescent and dealing with a profound loss.

“I hope the play offers a humorous and tender portrayal of that experience,” he says, noting that his generation, growing up, had a particular experience with mortality.

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