Cassopolis native Nick Westrate’s passion and skill for acting have earned him a Drama Desk Special Award, which will be presented in June in New York City.

The Drama Desk Awards are given annually in New York. To date, they are the only major New York theater honors that allow Broadway, off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway productions to compete against one another in several categories. Westrate, who was nominated once before in 2010 for his role in “Boys in the Band,” said he was excited to see the recognition of off-Broadway productions.

“It’s a huge honor, and it’s pretty incredible,” Westrate said. “My friend, Mary (Testa, also receiving a Special Award) said, ‘The best thing about it is that we don’t have to lose.’”

After graduating from Interlochen Center for the Arts and receiving a bachelor’s degree of fine arts in drama from The Julliard School in New York, Westrate stayed in the Big Apple to continue acting. Within his first year of graduating with honors from Julliard, he joined the Broadway stage with veteran actor Kevin Spacey for Eugene O’Neill’s “A Moon for the Misbegotten.”

“That was a great way to start off after school,” Westrate said. “I kept living in the same apartment I did during college, working regionally.”

The award will be given to Westrate for his performances in three off-Broadway plays: “Unnatural Acts,” “Love’s Labor’s Lost” and “Galileo.”

“It’s great to see that they are awarding a young actor who works off-Broadway,” Westrate said. “It shines a light on an important part of theater.”

Westrate, along with two other actors and a theater, will receive the Drama Desk Special Awards Sunday at The Town Hall in New York.