Michael is the Artistic Director of Summer Lyric Theatre and the Interim Head of Musical Theatre at Tulane University. He also is the Artistic Director of the award-winning theatre company, The Storyville Collective.  Since moving to New Orleans in 2015, in addition to his work with Summer Lyric, he has directed for such local theatre companies as Jefferson Performing Arts Society, Rivertown Theatre, NOCCA and Le Petit Theatre du Vieux Carre.  He is the winner for multiple Big Easy Awards having recently won as Best Director of a Musical for Summer Lyric's Ragtime and Best Director of a Play for Storyville's Hand to God, which also won Best Play of 2017.  His production of the Hunchback of Notre Dame, which he directed for JPAS, was recently awarded Best Musical by the Big Easys.  Always an educator, he founded the Story Road Project at Tulane that tours "musicals with a social conscience" to at-need schools in the Greater New Orleans area.

Prior to moving to NOLA, Michael was the Head of Musical Theatre Voice at the prestigious Conservatory of Performing Arts at Point Park University in Pittsburgh from which a number of his students are now appearing on Broadway and on tours and cruise lines around the world.  He also presided in Austin, Texas for over 15 years.  While in Austin, he co-founded Summer Stock Austin, a repertory theatre company for college and high school performers, and the outreach program Theatre for All, which provides live theatre experiences to at-risk and at-need students free-of-charge.  He also was the Coordinator of Music and Director of Musical Theatre at St. Edward's University.  During his time in Texas, he worked with numerous theatre companies and music organizations as a performer, director, music director and producer.  He is the recipient of multiple B. Iden Payne and Austin Critics Table Awards for his producing, directing and music directing.

A native of Los Angeles, California, Michael holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Cal State University Northridge, a Master of Music degree from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, and a Doctorate of Musical Arts from the University of Texas at Austin.