Bio

Michael Barakiva is an Armenian/Israeli director/writer based in New York City who uses more slashes than he ought in his bio. Welcome To My Rash and Third by Wendy Wasserstein (premieres, Theater J); 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (first workshop); UP by Bridget Carpenter (Oregon Shakespeare Festival); Sarah Ruhl’s The Clean House, Jeffrey Hatcher’s Turn of the Screw and Noel Coward’s Blithe Spirit, all at Syracuse Stage. Michael’s first book, a gay young-adult novel entitled One Man Guy, was released in May 2014 by Macmillan (Farrar, Straus & Giroux).  Michael also proudly serves as the Artistic Director of The Upstart Creatures (www.upstartcreatures.com), a company dedicated to creating (meta)physical feasts, currently adapting John Milton’s Paradise Lost for the stage. He is currently writing a play, The Nature of Things, a Sloan Foundation Commission inspired by the life of the Ancient Roman philosopher/scientist Lucretius.

Michael has directed readings/workshops at the Roundabout Theater, Arena Stage, Williamstown Theatre Festival, ACT, New York Theater Workshop, New Dramatists, CAP 21, Ars Nova and the Rattlestick Theater.  He was also featured on an episode of MTV’s MADE, in which he coached two high school students to write, direct and produce a play. Finally, Michael blogs sporadically:  http://michaelbarakiva.blogspot.com/.

Awards/Affiliations: Granada Artist-in-Residence at UC Davis, Drama League New Directors/New Works Fellowship, Phil Killian Fellow at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Drama League Summer Fellowship, David Merrick Prize in Drama, Lincoln Center Directors’ Lab.  Education: The Juilliard School (Andrew W. Mellon Directing Fellow); Vassar College. http://www.michaelbarakiva.com