Michael Gene Sullivan
is an actor, writer, director, blogger, and teacher committed to developing theatre of social justice, of political self-determination, and, of course, musical comedy.

Since 1988 Michael has been a principal actor with the Tony and Obie Award winning San Francisco Mime Troupe , appearing in over twenty SFMT productions, including several national and international tours. Michael's SFMT work also include performances off-Broadway, at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Asian People's Theater Festival (Hong Kong), The Canadian Popular Theatre Festival, the International Outdoor Theatre Festival (Korea), the Israel Theatre Festival, and the Theatre Action Festival (Belgium).

Michael also performs regularly at other regional theaters, his acting credits including work at the American Conservatory Theater , Denver Center Theatre Company, Magic Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Word for Word , Lorraine Hansberry Theater, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival , and Theaterworks. Michael also performed his award winning and critically acclaimed one person show, "DID ANYONE EVER TELL YOU - YOU LOOK LIKE HUEY P. NEWTON?", at both the New York and the Vancouver Fringe Theatre Festivals, and at the Eureka Theatre in San Francisco.

Michael's acting awards include The San Francisco Chronicle Award for Outstanding Achievement in Acting, The Bay Guardian's Upstage/Downstage Award and San Francisco Bay Area Drama Critic Circle Solo Performance Award nomination for "DID ANYONE EVER TELL YOU...", and The Dean Goodman Choice Award for Principal Performer and Drama Critics Circle Award Nomination for his portrayal as Flick in VIOLET at Theatreworks.

A contributing writer on San Francisco Mime Troupe shows since the mid-nineties, in 2000 Michael became Resident Playwright for the Mime Troupe, and has helped create some of the biggest hits it the history of the company, including 1600 TRANSYLVANIA AVENUE, MR. SMITH GOES TO OBSCURISTAN (with Josh Kornbluth), VERONIQUE OF THE MOUNTIES, GODFELLAS, and MAKING A KILLING. In 2007 he was awarded the Theatre Bay Area New Works Grant for playwrighting to create the SFMT's 2008 election year satire, "RED STATE," which was later nominated for The San Francisco Bay Area Critic's Circle Award for Best Original Script of 2008. Most recently, during their 50th Anniversary season, Michael wrote the S.F.M.T's 2009 hit - a wild storytelling fantasy about America's credit crisis- "TOO BIG TO FAIL."

"1984", his stage adaptation of George Orwell's dystopic novel of the oppressive present/future, opened at Los Angeles' Actor's Gang Theatre in 2006, directed by Academy Award winning actor Tim Robbins. The production has since toured to Australia, Hong Kong, Greece, Spain, and 40 of the United States. He is currently working on a new adaptation of Dickens' CHRISTMAS CAROL, and a new political musical, TO THE REPUBLIC. Michael's screenplay work includes ANGELS - a drama about the sex trade in post-colonial modern Philippines written with John Grilley, and LOVE YOU MADLY, a commisioned bio-pic on the life of Duke Ellington.

An accomplished director, Michael has also staged several of SFMT's most popular shows, including 1600 TRANSYLVANIA AVENUE, VERONIQUE, COAST CITY CONFIDENTIAL, RED STATE, and co-directed MAKING A KILLING and MR. SMITH GOES TO OBSCURISTAN. Other directing credits include work with the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, and Mystic Bison Theatre. Michael was Artistic Director of the Street of Dreams Theater ('80 - '86), Associate Artistic Director of the Lorraine Hansberry Theater ('93 - '94.) Michael was awarded the Sacramento Area Regional Theatre Award for Best Direction for I AM A MAN at the Harbor Theatre and his re-staging of SFMT's I AIN'T YO UNCLE won several Dramalogue Awards, including Outstanding Direction.

Michael is also a regular contributor to Huffingtonpost.com, one of the foremost political sites on the web, and gave the closing speech at the 2008 Theater Bay Area Annual Conference (which was also reviewed!)

One of the original teachers for the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival's groundbreaking "Midnight Shakespeare" program for inner-city teens, Michael has been a teacher and director for the California Shakespeare Festival Summer Camp, and has taught workshops in Play Creation, Acting, Melodrama, and Physical Comedy at colleges and universities across the country. He has also worked as a "script doctor" and advisor for emerging playwrights, and has served as Playwright-in-Residence for the Young California Playwright's Project since 2001, teaching at-risk high school students how to create plays on subjects that matter to them, using revolutionary drama to change the world into the place they know it can be.

michael@michaelgenesullivan.com