Lanford Wilson received the 1980 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for TALLEY’S FOLLY. He was a founding member of Circle Repertory Company and one of twenty-one resident playwrights for the company. His work at Circle Rep includes: THE FAMILY CONTINUES (1972); THE HOT L BALTIMORE (1973); THE MOUND BUILDERS (1975); SERENADING LOUIE (1976); 5TH OF JULY (1978); TALLEY’S FOLLY (1980); A TALE TOLD (1981); and ANGELS FALL (1982), all directed by Marshall Mason His play BURN THIS opened at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles in January 1987 starring John Malkovich and Joan Allen and opened on Broadway in October 1987 with the same cast. It was recently revived on Broadway in 2019 with Adam Driver and Keri Russell.

For the past fifteen years, Michael has served as Producing Artistic Director of Milwaukee Chamber Theatre. He has directed quite a number of productions there, including Jeeves at Sea, Doubt, Christmas in Babylon, Picnic, The Lion in Winter, The Daly News and Dickens in America. Before that he spent eight years as Associate Artistic Director at Next Act Theatre. Since moving to Wisconsin in 1988, he’s directed over 100 productions. Other favorites have been A Night in November at Next Act Theatre, The Syringa Tree for both Renaissance Theaterworks and American Players Theatre, and Lobby Hero for Madison Repertory Theatre. Michael has also been acting professionally for 42 years and has appeared on Broadway and in regional theatres all across the country. In 2009, he was honored with an “Artist of the Year” award by the City of Milwaukee Arts Board.