As the Theater and Policy Salon’s founder and a consultant in cultural diplomacy, Michael serves as a creative producer, dramaturg, and advisor for scripts and theater projects dealing with policy, cross-cultural, and global issues. Through the Theater and Policy Salon, Michael has partnered with the By Me Project as a creative producer and the education lead. Michael’s involvement in the Project originated with his participation in the “Gathering” theater summit at the inaugural CrossCurrents Festival organized by the Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics at Georgetown University.
Awarded a D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities Fellowship (DCCAH) and HumanitiesDC funding, Michael works with Washington, DC area theaters, communities, and Embassies to organize theater and policy events that inspire action on local and global real world issues. The Theater and Policy Salon, which partnered with Mosaic and Shakespeare theaters for virtual Salon events in 2020-2021, following collaborations with Ford’s, Arena, Shakespeare, Studio, and Mosaic theaters for its 2019-2020 in-person season. The Salon's inaugural "Who Gets To Feel Safe?" season featured Salons at Woolly Mammoth, Ford's, New Music Theatre, and New York University Washington DC. Earlier, Michael launched the Talk Tank series for Forum Theater's 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 seasons. Michael served as an Editorial Team Member at Createquity - a virtual arts policy think tank and online publication - through its sunset in 2017.
Earlier in his career, Michael served as a director at PEPFAR (the President’s Emergency Fund for AIDS Relief) and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative as well as professional staff on the Budget Committee of the U.S. Senate as part of a fellowship with the American Political Science Association. As a U.S. diplomat and cultural attaché, Michael served in Germany, Italy, the Czech Republic, and the DRC as well as working on Africa, Balkans, and European Union issues. Michael graduated from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, USA and speaks German, Czech, French and Italian.