SUMMER 2022
The Kennedy Center Directing Intensive 2022
Michelle will be participating in the program via Zoom this year!
The Kennedy Center Directing Intensive brings together a cohort of like-minded early-career directors to create a supportive community and shared learning experience. The Intensive will engage participants in rigorous conversations, practical activities, and master classes with Kelsey Mesa, Nicole A. Watson, Raymond O. Caldwell, Rhiana Yazzie, Emily Preis, Sharifa Yasmin, Pirronne Yousefzadeh, Natsu Onoda Power, Will Davis and more!
SPINDLE SHUTTLE NEEDLE by Gab Reisman
Michelle assists this production of new work directed by Tamilla Woodard, as part of Clubbed Thumb’s 25th Summerworks at the Wild Project!
In a cottage surrounded by endless siege, at the dawn of Modern Capitalism, a motley group of women tell tales, pick nits, and stretch out the last bits of sustenance til the Market reopens.
SPRING 2022
Jersey City Theater Center’s New Play Festival
Michelle directs readings of 4 new short plays for Jersey City Theater Center’s 6th New Play Festival!
Jersey City Theater Center’s New Play Festival, now in its sixth year, showcases new works from local, national, and international playwrights that center on the theme of strength.
THE BOY WHO BURNT HIS VILLAGE DOWN at the New School
Michelle writes and performs in the workshop of Michi Zaya and Yunan (Emma) Xu’s capstone project for their MA degree at The New School!
The catalyst for IN CHINATOWN came from the iconic Jing Fong restaurant, formerly a banquet-style restaurant that seated 800. This restaurant was the home to many Chinatown families’ most cherished and special occasions. During the pandemic, the restaurant was closed down and causing the loss of over 170 jobs.
Asian American artists came together to devise an online performance, centering stories of the individuals impacted by the ongoing cultural displacement and gentrification of Manhattan’s Chinatown. Following the performance, there will be an art-making workshop focused on storytelling via art, social interaction, and community engagement.
A LITTLE BIT OF TEA WITH THAT by Bleu Beckford-Burrell
Michelle assists director Mark Cirnigliaro on the premiere of this new work at Theatre Row, with The Keen Company’s Keen Teens program!
The Keen Teens program is the cornerstone of The Keen Company’s outreach and educational efforts, bringing the company’s values to the high school stage by developing new work tailored specifically to teen actors and audiences.
Devising new work at Breaking & Entering Theatre Collective
Michelle and Breaking & Entering resident artist Alex Church-Gonzales have been developing their untitled Guerilla Girls project, with the collaboration of Jade Rodriguez, Abby Gumpper, Julia Coffey, and more.
Workshop to come this summer!
FYRE FEST WAS SO FUN!!! by Catherine Weingarten
Michelle directs this sexy apocalyptical "Waiting for Godot-ish" new comedy by Catherine Weingarten this November! This play will premiere as part of Breaking & Entering Theatre Collective’s Pre Emerging Artists Festival (PEA Fest) at the Chain Theatre. The cast consists of Georgia Kate Cohen, Grant Williams, Sylvie Tamar, and Vince Ryne.
Four hot people wait for a festival to start and through the process are forced to confront what it means to have instagram followers, be super hot and the point of living.
Suzan-Lori Parks’ “Loving the Living Playwright” at NYU
Michelle joins SLP’s team as the teaching assistant for her graduate-level playwriting class entitled “Loving the Living Playwright” at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. She will be managing a pool of actors and handling the logistics of their visits for the students’ weekly presentations, while also acting as the course’s direct liaison to the professor.
FALL 2021
KAREN DALTON by Evan Enderle
Michelle assists director Portia Krieger on an industry reading of this new play by Evan Enderle, to be presented at the Flea Theater.
Bob Dylan's "favorite singer" was a hero on the folk music scene who died thinking she was a failure, only to become a sensation after her passing. KAREN DALTON deals with Karen's life and legacy, as well as touching on folk music's history of appropriation and its relationship to the larger culture.
HABIBI by Mehrnaz Tiv
Michelle directs a reading of Mehrnaz Tiv’s new work as part of Breaking & Entering’s Rooftop Reading Series.
HABIBI follows Amira, a young first generation Middle Eastern American sex worker, as she commits to embracing her culture. During a period of estrangement from her family, she visits her White boyfriend’s conservative family in West Virginia and is faced with a lot more than just the racially charged questions she was already expecting.
May 19th readings to take place in person:
TWO LOVERS AND A BEAR by Tjaša Ferme
UNCONVENTIONAL by Kristin Cotts
May 5th readings to take place on Zoom:
LOVERS AND SURVIVORS by Aaron Leventman
UNWRAP YOUR PAIN by Marj O'Neill-Butler
Associate Artist at Sanguine Theatre Company
Michelle joins an incredible team of 20 associate artists at Sanguine Theatre Company for their 2022-2023 season! She will be assisting its core team with the company's programming selection, mission guidance, and creative team development.
Sanguine Theatre Company is a new-work laboratory that dismantles barriers for emerging artists.
THE SHOW MUST GO ON
Michelle assists Sammi Cannold’s team at the premiere event of her new documentary at the Majestic Theatre.
In the wake of the global pandemic, THE SHOW MUST GO ON chronicles the race against time to save live theater and focuses in on an army of theater makers determined to win it. This documentary highlights the survival of the performing arts and the worldwide resuscitation of an artform with the fate of a global industry at stake. But more importantly, the film tells a human story - one of the resilience of storytellers and their determination to come together to heal, create, and inspire.
SUMMER 2021
THE STILL WANT TO KILL US
Michelle assists production manager Dana Greenfield on the set of this short film aria produced by Sozo Media.
THEY STILL WANT TO KILL US is an uncensored aria performed and composed by Daniel Bernard Roumain, featuring mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges and directed by Yoram Savion. Composed to mark the 100th anniversary of the 1921 Tulsa Massacre, the piece was deprogrammed by the Tulsa Opera based on its ‘controversial' lyrics.
The program includes the premiere of the piece by Savion, a discussion with DBR and Bridges, moderated by Jamilla Deria and a statement by Damario Solomon-Simmons of the Justice for Greenwood Foundation.
PACE UNIVERSITY GRADUATE 2021
Michelle graduates from Pace University’s School of Performing Arts with a Directing degree from their International Performance Ensemble program, and a minor in English Literature. She spent her time at Pace guided by an abundance of mentors taking classes in acting, directing, text analysis, devised theatre, stage management, playwriting, casting, English literature, and women & gender studies. She also spent the Fall 2019 semester abroad studying at the Institute of the Arts Barcelona in Sitges, Catalonia.
While at Pace, Michelle was selected for the inaugural cohort of their Storytelling Fellowship for Equity and Inclusion and was a founding member of the Council for an Inclusive Ensemble. She was also a multi-year producing member of their student-run theatre company, Stand Up Productions. During her time as a student, Michelle also completed an artistic internship at Dixon Place and a literary internship with Vineyard Theatre.
FALL 2022
Executive/Creative Operations Internship at Jujamcyn Theater
Michelle begins a new role with Jujamcyn Theaters as their executive office and creative operations intern this fall!
Jujamcyn Theaters is recognized as a theatrical innovator for championing shows that push the boundaries of Broadway and for creating uniquely welcoming experiences for audiences and artists.
WE ARE NOT THE GUERRILLA GIRLS
We will hold our first invited presentation of this ongoing project to friends and peers this July, featuring Desiree Clark Slaughter, Abby Gumpper, Stephanie Orta-Vázquez, Lilian Rebelo, and Jade Rodriguez. We hope to continue workshopping this project and produce a full production in the Fall/Winter.
Performed by a diverse ensemble of actors playing over 25 different roles, WE ARE NOT THE GUERRILLA GIRLS attempts to fill in the gaps of the Guerrilla Girls’ anonymity, taking the audience on an inside look into what being a Guerrilla Girl could look like. Reminiscent of sketch comedy, this project is an energetic romp through patriarchal game shows, a paint-splattered noir, and a hands-on creative catharsis for the audience. The beauty of this piece comes from the ensemble’s process of exploring our own attachments and roles as marginalized artists within the structure of the art world. We hope to encourage our audiences to reflect on their own experiences and give them permission to express their own frustrations too. This is a theatrical rage room- a platform to engage with others in our community to vent, cry, hug and march on together.
WE ARE NOT THE GUERRILLA GIRLS at The Maker’s Space
We will perform new material for this project at The Maker’s Space this November, as part of The Makers’ Ensemble’s Artists Series. This workshop featured Desiree Clark Slaughter, Abby Gumpper, Stephanie Orta-Vázquez, Lilian Rebelo, and Julia Coffey.
Performed by a diverse ensemble of actors playing over 25 different roles, WE ARE NOT THE GUERRILLA GIRLS attempts to fill in the gaps of the Guerrilla Girls’ anonymity, taking the audience on an inside look into what being a Guerrilla Girl could look like. Reminiscent of sketch comedy, this project is an energetic romp through patriarchal game shows, a paint-splattered noir, and a hands-on creative catharsis for the audience. The beauty of this piece comes from the ensemble’s process of exploring our own attachments and roles as marginalized artists within the structure of the art world. We hope to encourage our audiences to reflect on their own experiences and give them permission to express their own frustrations too. This is a theatrical rage room- a platform to engage with others in our community to vent, cry, hug and march on together.
SERIALS, SEASON 2: Breakfast Babies
Michelle directs the Breakfast Babies in two new short plays by Catherine Wiengarten and Niccolo Aeed, for the first two cycles of SERIALS’s second season, produced by The Fled Collective.
SERIALS, a late night serialized theater thrill ride drenched in fake blood, painted with rainbow glitter, and filled with the boldest choices seen on any stage in New York City, exemplifies the soul of The Fled Collective. SERIALS is a program consisting of five 10-minute plays, pitted against each other, with audiences voting for the three shows they want to see continued in a new episode the next weekend!
REVIEW: The Fled’s wildly creative and hilariously haunting ‘SERIALS’ at NYC’s The Flea.
2023 Moxie Incubator
Michelle joins the 2023 cohort of the Moxie Incubator at Moxie Arts NY, with Creative/Managing Producers Kayla Hernandez Friend and Madelyn Paquette. She will work with a built-in group of emerging directors, playwrights, and producers to develop three new plays from February through June 2023. She will work with Playwright and Directors Skyler Volpe, August Hakvag, Alyssa Haddad-Chin, Autumn Angellettie, and Annabel Heacock.
Moxie Arts NY is a nonprofit theatre and film production company dedicated to engaging audiences with stories centering women, created by artists of historically excluded genders. Our programming provides funding and opportunities for artists at all stages of career development, including dramaturgical support, resources for staged readings, and professional management for the development of new work - from the page to the stage, and everywhere in between.
SPRING 2023
Suzan-Lori Parks’ “Loving the Living Playwright” at NYU
Michelle returns to SLP’s team this spring as the teaching assistant for her graduate-level playwriting class entitled “Loving the Living Playwright” at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. She will be managing a pool of actors and handling the logistics of their visits for the students’ weekly presentations, while also acting as the course’s direct liason to the professor.
BUCK STARS by C. Julian Jimenéz
Michelle returns to the Keen Company’s annual Keen Teens Festival! This year she will direct a cast of all-star NYC teens in C Julian Jimenéz’s new play that examines the assumptions we make about the people around us. How would our compassion extend or diminish if we really knew what was going on within the people whom we’ve made hasty generalizations?