Michael holds a BFA degree from the University of Minnesota. While in Minnesota he founded the Small Change Original Theater in Minneapolis where he wrote & directed tours of educational shows throughout Minnesota, Wisconsin, North & South Dakota.
In Los Angeles he served as the Director of Education for the Living Library Theatre, and a teacher/director for South Coast Repertory’s Young Actor’s Conservatory program.
In Chicago he has appeared at Steppenwolf, Remains, Wisdom Bridge, and the Goodman Theatres, as well as co-founding the Huron Theater Ensemble. Between 1999 & 2003 he wrote and directed much of the family entertainment at Navy Pier.
For the past eight years he has been touring Incognito, his one-man auto-biographical play to; the Sundance Institute, The California African American Museum, the Bailiwick Repertory Theatre, the Apple Tree Theatre, the Kansas City Repertory Theatre, The Woodstock (NY) Fringe Festival, The Illinois Theatre Center, The Mad Anthony Theatre Company in Ohio, the Black Arts Movement Festival in Austen, TX, Cape May Stage in Cape May, NJ, The Black Academy of Arts & Letters in Dallas, and to various high schools, colleges, performing arts centers, and for organizations through out the country.
2008 marked the first journey with the show outside of the country to the islands of The Bahama's with a standing invitation to return. In addition to performing the show, he also conducts workshops on racial, identity, & stereotype issues with students, faculty, & for corporations. In the summers he can be found on the campus of Northwestern University teaching acting, and directing productions as a part of the National High School Institute "Cherub's" program.
Recent work; Arthur Miller’s last play, Finishing the Picture, and Stephen Lang's Beyond Glory - Goodman Theatre, Fire - Prop Thtr., Nathan the Wise - Theatre Building Chicago, Backwards - Woodstock Fringe, also directed solo-showsat Bailiwick Repertory, and The Chicago Moving Company. During 2004 he performed in one of the most unusual shows of his career, the critically acclaimed Job Opportunity. The play was set in a 1985 Oldsmobile Delta 88, with an audience of four seated in the back seat, while the car navigated the streets of Chicago. He is anticipating the upcoming publication of his memoir, Incognito, on which his play is based. |
