Photo by David Cooper

 

About

Michael is a Canadian set and costume designer, known for his work in theatre, musical theatre, opera and dance. His multifaceted designs include period, contemporary, conceptual and site specific work and have been seen across Canada, in the United States, England and Italy.

Recent projects include the set design for Chicago at the Stratford Festival directed and choreographed by Donna Feore, the world premiere of the opera Hadrian by Rufus Wainwright and Daniel McIvor at the Canadian Opera Company, the costume design for the opera Ricciardo e Zoraide at the Rossini Festival in Pesaro Italy starring Juan Diego Flórez and Pretty Yende, and the costume design for the world premiere of the ballet Frame By Frame created by Robert Lepage and Guillaume Côté for the National Ballet of Canada and Ex Machina. In September of 2021 Michael designed the set for Embrasse, the latest play by internationally lauded playwright Michel Marc Bouchard, directed by Eda Holmes. The production opened the 70th season of the Théâtre du Nouveau Monde in Montreal, co-produced with the Centaur Theatre Company, and marked the first time Montreal’s two largest French and English theatre companies have collaborated.

He has designed for 14 seasons at the Stratford Festival, North America’s largest repertory theatre company, frequently collaborating with director/choreographer Donna Feore on the Festival’s musical productions. Their production of The Rocky Horror Show in 2018 became the Festival’s longest running production in the theatre’s 70 year history.

 At North America’s second largest repertory theatre, The Shaw Festival, Michael has designed for 9 seasons working on classics, musicals and new work. In 2015 he collaborated with then artistic director Jackie Maxwell on the world premiere of The Divine: A Play for Sarah Bernhardt by Michel Marc Bouchard. His set design for Cabaret with visionary director Peter Hinton was displayed at the 2015 Prague Quadrennial for Performance Design and Space.

He has designed productions for Opera Atelier, Canadian Opera Company, National Ballet of Canada, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, Canadian Stage Company, National Arts Centre, Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre, Citadel Theatre, Theatre Calgary, Centaur Theatre, The Grand Theatre, Mirvish Productions, Musical Stage Company, Obsidian Theatre, Ross Petty Productions, Tarragon Theatre, Buddies in Bad Times, Segal Centre, Theatre Passe Muraille, Canadian Rep Theatre, Studio 180, Against the Grain, Young People’s Theatre, Neptune Theatre, Theatre Panik, The Royal Conservatory of Music and Opera Ontario. Michael worked extensively with Queen of Puddings Music Theatre, designing new operas that premiered in Toronto, The Linbury Theatre at the Royal Opera House in London and Opera Philadelphia.

Michael is a recipient of a Dora Mavor Moore Award, two Montreal English Theatre Awards, The Brian Jackson Award from the Stratford Festival and The Virginia and Myrtle Cooper Award in Costume Design from the Ontario Arts Foundation.