Michael Barakiva (director)

Michael Barakiva is an Armenian/Israeli theater director and writer based in New York City. His first novel, One Man Guy, published by Macmillan (Farrar, Straus & Giroux), was named to the Rainbow List and will be released in Brazil by LeYa. Michael also serves as the Artistic Director of The Upstart Creatures (www.upstartcreatures.com), a theater company dedicated to creating unique artistic events combining theater and food. New York: White People by Neil Cuthbert, They Float Up by Jacquelyn Reingold (both at Ensemble Studio Theater), The Usher’s Ball by Fengar Gael (CAP 21), as well as workshops/readings at the Roundabout Theater Company, ARS Nova, New Dramatists, NY Stage & Film, and New York Theater Workshop. Regionally, he has directed at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Syracuse Stage, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, Theater J, the Hangar Theater, Eugene O’Neill Theater Conference, Premiere Stages, and the Nevada Conservatory Theater. Michael is a recipient of the David Merrick Prize in Drama, a Drama League Summer Fellowship, a Granada Fellowship at UC Davis and the Phil Killian Fellowship in Directing at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. He is an avid board-game player, and a proud member of the New York Ramblers, the world’s first openly-gay soccer club. He is a graduate of Vassar College and the Juilliard School, where he studied as an Andrew W. Mellon Fellow in Directing. www.michaelbarakiva.com