News and Updates
Semi Finalist in WeScreeplay Shorts Competition
For short film "Boys Will"
Michael made it to the Semi Finals (top 10%!) for his short film "Boys Will-" in the WeScreenplay Shorts Competition. "Boys Will-" is a dramatically taut short about a gay couple's fun night out that takes a dark turn when sexual boundaries get crossed.
SemiFinalist in Diverse Voices Screenwriting Competition
Michael made it to the Semi Finals for his short film "Boys Will-" in the Diverse Voices Screenwriting Competition.
"Boys Will-" is a dramatically taut short about a gay couple's fun night out that takes a dark turn when sexual boundaries get crossed.
Interested In Crowdfunding Live
Interested In is crowdfunding for Season 2!
HOW TO HELP:
1. Make a pledge! Make a tax-deductible pledge (thanks to our fiscal sponsorship with From The Heart Productions) to our campaign today!
2. Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and Seed&Spark! If we reach 250 followers on our Seed&Spark page, we get some amaze perks. A follow goes a long way honey!
3. Share it! Like what you see, share it with your friends, right now!
Interested In Crowdfunding Campaign for Season 2
Michael's series, Interested In, is coming back for Season 2! To raise funds, we are launching a crowdfunding campaign on Seed&Spark on Oct 11. Be sure to follow on instagram for updates (@interestedinseries) and pledge when it's live!
Camp Morning Wood at Playwrights Horizons
Michael will make his Off Broadway debut at Playwrights Horizons this summer in the new musical, Camp Morning Wood. Previews begin June 7.
Camp Morning Wood is a new musical comedy about a gay couple who decide to escape the city for a weekend camping in the woods to reconnect and unplug... but who get caught up in an adventure they never expected. A weekend of temptations and freeing (naked!) encounters leads the couple to new discoveries about themselves and each other that just might lead them back together.
Since My Last Confession at the Dramatist Guild
Directed Staged Reading
Michael directed the staged reading of the new play, Since My Last Confession, by Donna Newton, at the Dramatist Guild on Friday, May 17 at 7:30 pm.
Summary: Memory and memory loss collide when the estranged son of a noted gay novelist, afflicted with Alzheimer's, discovers his father's unfinished, scathing book about the Catholic Church child sexual abuse scandal.
NYC Premiere Party for Interested In
DESCRIPTION
After a successful tour through the festival circuit, "Interested In" is finally making it's NYC premiere!! Join the cast and crew for a screening of the series, drag performances by Rosé, and a Q & A to follow. Co-hosted by drag superstar Rosé and Hamilton's Sean Green Jr.
DATE AND TIME
Sun, Jan 20th, 7:30-9 pm
LOCATION
Liberty Hall at Ace Hotel New York
20 West 29th Street
New York, New York 10001
Directing "The Registry" at NY Winterfest
THE REGISTRY
a new play by Kate McMorran
directed by
When Kaitlin announces that she is planning a huge wedding, her sister Sarah has little patience once she realizes that Kaitlin plans to get married to herself. As Kaitlin insists on protesting traditional marriage, the sisters' argument takes the concept of self love to the next level.
DATES:
January 24th @ 6:15 PM
January 25th @ 6:15 PM
January 27th @ 8:30 PM
Actor in 'God Abandoned' Music Video
Acted in the music video for dark electronic queer musician, Tempustantrum.
Won Best Actor at FirstGlance Film Festival!
I won best actor in a web series at First Glance Film Festival for my work on Interested In!
Best Actor Nomination!
At FirstGlance Film Festival
I was nominated for best actor in a web series at First Glance Film Festival for my work on Interested In. Awards Ceremony on October 14th.
Interested In Official Selection at San Antonio QFest
Interested In is an official selection at San Antonio QFest. October 12-14.
Interested In Official Selection at First Glance
Interested In is an official selection at First Glance Film Festival in Philadelphia. October 14th at 3:30 pm.
Interested In Official Selection at Out on Film
Interested In is an official selection at Out on Film, Atlanta's LGBT Film Festival. September 28th at 3 pm.
The Grey Boy at Dixon Place
Adapted and Directed by me
I adapted and directed "The Grey Boy," which is performing at Dixon Place on Sept 12 at 7:30 pm.
About the show: When you’re raised to be ashamed of your sexuality, knowing what you want and what you don’t want can become messy. The Grey Boy is a pastiche of Tennessee Williams’ most famous plays (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, A Streetcar Named Desire, and The Glass Menagerie). But this time, the gay subplots are put to the forefront. We remove the veil from Brick and Skipper’s relationship, we question where Tom goes when he’s “at the movies,” and we explore the life of Blanche’s late husband, Allan Grey… the Grey Boy.
Interested In is Premiering!
at Cinema Diverse: The Palm Springs LGBT Film Festival
Interested In is PREMIERING as an official selection at Cinema Diverse: The Palm Springs LGBT Film Festival.
The Fop: Love & Lost in Victorian Queer New York
Michael played Lady Serena in The Fop directed and written by Jack Shamblin (aka Mia Kunter) at Dixon Place on Feb 28.
Take a bawdy romp through the streets and saloons of Victorian New York with gangsters, trans folks, drag queens, hustlers, serial killers, widows, and urchins of Lower Manhattan’s immigrant clans. The Fop delivers a panoply of lusty adventures: watch the gender-fluid past come alive as a fabulous cast of LGBTQ stars strut their stuff.
It's Not Me, It's You
Short Film
Michael was a lead in the short film "It's Not Me, It's You" at the New School. The story follows as Michael's character and his girlfriend as their decision to start an open relationship leads to their demise.
A Night in November
Short Film
Michael was a principal in the short film "A Night in November," written and directed by Teddy Schaffer. Starring Dino Petrera and Arin MacLaine.
In a Night in November, Oliver and Lena are found camping out in the bathroom while Lena’s brother throws a high school party downstairs. Oliver decides to join the party on his own, expecting to have a wild drug-filled night of romance and freedom. Oliver instead experiences a string of awkward and confusing moments with an outgoing older guy, threatening a tear between Lena and Oliver’s friendship.
Interested In: The Web Series
That's a Wrap!
After an incredible weekend of shooting, "Interested In" is currently in post-production.
Interested In is a coming of age story about a recently out college student as he navigates hook up culture in Philly's Gayborhood. Michael is the writer, producer, and lead of the series.
Interested In
The Web Series
Michael's original play, "Interested In," is becoming a web series! Currently in pre-production. Launching a crowd-source campaign soon!
SDC Associate Member!
Michael is officially an associate member in the Stage Directors and Choreographer's Union!
Harbor on Six
Staged Reading
Michael will be playing Ben in the staged reading of Harbor on Six by Charles Gershman.
Teatro Sea at the Clemente Space (107 Suffolk Street).
June 26 @ 4:30 pm. Directed by Anna Strasser.
Jesus Christ Superstar
Michael is the SDCF Observer on Signature's Jesus Christ Superstar, Directed by Joe Calarco.
The icon. His traitor. The most famous story ever told. Experience Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s stunning award-winning rock opera in a sleek, modern, environmental production.
With the legendary songs “What’s the Buzz,” “I Don’t Know How to Love Him,” “Everything’s Alright” and the title song, Joe Calarco (Gypsy) directs this dazzling and fiery epic of celebrity, passion, guilt and salvation.
Kissing Will
Michael directed "Kissing Will" by Virginia Reynolds. April 21 to 23 at the Depot Theatre.
The Refugee Plays
What does it mean to be a refugee in a world on fire? In this group of short plays, contemporary playwrights Carlos Castro, Penny Jackson, Charles Gershman, Sean E. Cunningham, and Callie Kimball tell powerful stories of refugees today. Conceived during the 2016 presidential campaign, these stories resonate even more loudly now.
Michael is one of the leads in Charles Gershman's "Morning After." About a one-night stand between an American and a Syrian refugee.
Dates/times:
Thu 2/16 @ 10:30 pm
Tue 2/21 @ 5:30 pm
Fri 2/24 @ 6:50 pm
Thu 3/2 @ 8:50 pm
Sun 3/5 @ 5:10 pm
Running time: 1 hour
Location: The Kraine Theater, 85 E. 4th St., NYC
The Desired Effect
Staged Reading
People love in different ways. People grieve in different ways. A play about depression, insomnia, and keeping the forward momentum.
Written by Jonathan Phillips. Directed by Brendon Votipka.
Michael was the lead in the staged reading.
January 30 at Theatre for the New City in the Cino Theatre.
Sing, Bibi, Sing! A One Woman Musical
Written by and Starring Elise Arndt
Directed by Michael Witkes.
Elise Arndt's grandmother, Bibi Osterwald, was a veteran of stage and screen whose dedication to performance was astounding - she was the original standby for Hello Dolly in the 1960's for the entirety of the 7 year run. She performed during the golden age of musical theatre with Broadway's biggest divas. Through the eyes of Elise, we experience Bibi's life, and the songs and stories that benchmarked her career.
Admission is FREE
November 19 at 7 pm at the Dramatist Guild Fund.
Friends of Dorothy: A Gay Parody of the Wizard of Oz
by Michael Witkes
A first draft READING of a new play, FRIENDS OF DOROTHY, a gay adaptation of the Wizard of Oz.
Admission is FREE
DRAG QUEENS, and TWINKIES, and BEARS, OH MY!
After a hurrican hits, Dale hides in his closet for protection. But when the closet breaks away from his home, Dale crash lands in the city of Oz. There he meets our familiar characters, with a fun gay twist.
Written by Michael Witkes
Directed by Ryan Atwell
Ice Cream Man, Blue Balls, and The Funny Thing
by Willie Johnson
Michael is assistant directing and assistant stage manageing this production presented at the Secret Theatre in Long Island City. August 11 @ 6 pm, August 3 @ 8:30 pm, and August 16 @ 7 pm. Directed by Sarah Stites.
Ice Cream Man, Blue Balls, and The Funny Thing: Is an exploration of masculine anger, through the lenses of race, disability, and sexuality. This play allows the audience to witness a power struggle between different aspects of American masculine identity.
Interested In at Dixon Place
by Michael Witkes
Michael's original production, Interested In, will be presented as a workshop on the Dixon Place mainstage on July 6 at 7:30 pm. Michael will play the lead and co-direct the production.
About the show: Interested In begins directly after Parker, a young college student, comes out of the closet. Told through a series of vignettes, we follow his awkward life as he plunges into the world of gay hook up culture and begins to understand his new sense of identity and sexual freedom.
Nobody Brings Anything Small Into a Bar
by Barry Rowell
Michael is assistant directing the Peculiar Works production by Barry Rowell. Directed by Gabirel Shanks. Currently in rehearsals. Look out for the premier in August or September.
This site specific work explores bar culture and will be performed in bars throughout New York City.
There Is No We
by Jeremy J Kamps
Michael assistant directed this workshop production at the Dixon Place. May 4. Directed by Nelson Eusebio.
About the play: Three US soldiers doing recon on an Afghan mountain ridge are on each other’s nerves when they happen upon an elderly goat herder & his granddaughter fleeing the village. With no common language, the soldiers don’t know this & are faced with the dilemma of letting them go, risking their cover being blown & possibly being killed, or killing the old man & girl when they were innocents in the wrong place at the wrong time. As they try to decide, it’s clear that their biggest enemies are not the goat herder & his granddaughter, but each other.
Twisted Valentine's
Staged Readings
Michael directed two staged readings at the Axial Theatre on Feb 6. "Penis Meets Vagina" by Jeremy J Kamps and "The Irresistable Lure of the Shiny" by Evelyn Mertens.
Fen
by Carly Churchill
Michael assistant directed and stage managed the Red Garnet Theater Company's production of Fen. Directed by Patricia Lynn.
February 11 - 21.
Based on the narratives of the Fen Women comes a story about a community of farmers facing mechanization and a young mother who dreams of something beyond the fields.
Tyler Moore
Michael was cast as the lead of a short film. A mockumentary about an arrogant low level employee at a start up company in New York City.
Produced by Rude Grandma Productions.
Barrier Islands
Michael is the assistant director and stage manager for the world premier of Barrier Islands at The Wild Project. Directed by Zi Alikahn.
November 28 - December 5, 2015.
Barrier Islands is a new play about the tangled intersections between men and women; sex and violence; desire and repulsion.
An isolated island community, a two-lane highway, an all-night gas station, and a crime scene on a deserted beach. The residents of Ivy Dunes are used to disappearing acts—with each hurricane, a little more of their narrow barrier island washes away. But when a young woman's disappearance leads to a gruesome discovery, the police descend, the ocean encroaches, and the residents of this barrier island community struggle to find their footing in the ever-shifting landscape.
I Am Student
Michael was cast as the lead of a short film about a student struggling to pay his college tuition.
Written and Directed by Jessica Morin.
A Doll's House
Michael is assistant directing the Axial Theatre's production of A Doll's House. Directed by Howard Meyer. Nov 6-22, 2016.
The Hound of the Baskervilles
Directed by Mark Shanahan
Michael understudied for the roles of Sherlock, Watson, and Sir Henryand assistant directed the Hangar Theatre's mainstage production of The Hound of the Baskervilles. Directed by Mark Shanahan. July 16-25.
Mud
by Maria Irene Fornés
Michael assistant directed Mud. Directed by Aneesha Kudtarkar. Performed at the Hangar Theatre, July 2-3, as part of their Wedge Series.
Email wedge@hangartheatre.org to reserve seats.
The Emperor's New Clothes
by Ahren and Flaherty
Michael assistant directed Ahren and Flaherty's The Emperor's New Clothes. June 18-20th at the Hangar Theatre. Directed by Paul Bedard.