12-19-2023
MICHAEL BARON (Producing Artistic Director) – At Lyric, he directed Concerto, The Prom, Carousel, Head Over Heels, Master Class, Grease, Lyric Kids’ Clubhouse, Frost/Nixon, Titanic, Singin’ in the Rain, Bright Star, When We’re Gone (world premiere), Disney’s Freaky Friday, Fun Home, Disney’s When You Wish, James and the Giant Peach, I Am My Own Wife, Assassins, Fiddler on the Roof, Dreamgirls, Mann…And Wife (world premiere), Bernice Bobs Her Hair (world premiere), Big Fish with David Elder and Tony-nominee Emily Skinner, Oklahoma!, An Inspector Calls, A Little Night Music with Tony-nominee Dee Hoty, Les Misérables, Triangle, Big River, Tarzan, The Glass Menagerie, The Mystery of Irma Vep, Call Me Madam with Tony-winner Beth Leavel, Spring Awakening, Ragtime, Oliver!, Boeing Boeing, Always…Patsy Cline, December Divas, The Rocky Horror Show and the annual production of Lyric’s A Christmas Carol (also adapted).
He has directed over 100 productions at theaters across the country, including co-directing with Sandra Mae Frank an ASL/Spoken English production of The Music Man at The Olney Theatre in Washington, D.C., co-directing with Brian Cheslik an ASL/Spoken English production of Cinderella at Zach Theatre/Deaf Austin Theatre, and the current production of A Christmas Carol at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. Other regional directing highlights include ZACH Theatre: Peter and the Starcatcher, Spring Awakening; Signature Theatre: The Little Dog Laughed, Songs for a New World starring Tony-winner Alice Ripley, Tony-nominee Brian D’Arcy James, Emmy-nominee Titus Burgess, and music direction by Jason Robert Brown; Adventure Theatre: James and the Giant Peach, the world premiere musical Big Nate; Goodspeed Musicals: Meet John Doe; Trinity Repertory Company: The School for Scandal. La Mama: The Whore of Sheridan Square (wrote and directed, published in anthology Plays and Playwrights 2006). NEA and Poetry Foundation 2010-2023: Poetry Out Loud National Competition Finals with hosts Joy Sunday, John Leguizamo, Kerry Washington and Anna Deavere Smith. Teaching: American University, Brown University, Holy Cross College, Oklahoma City University, and Rhode Island College. Michael has been a theatre grant panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Alliance for Musical Theatre. Training: B.A. in Theatre Arts, Wake Forest University; M.F.A. in Directing, Trinity Repertory Conservatory. Michael served as the Associate Director of Signature Theatre in Arlington, Virginia-winner of the 2009 Regional Theatre Tony Award. Michael received the 2012 Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Direction of a Resident Musical in Washington, D.C. for Adventure Theatre’s production of A Year with Frog and Toad, the 2016 Oklahoma Governor’s Arts Award, a 2016 special award from Oklahoma City Mayor’s Committee on Disabilities Concerns, the 2021 Yad B’Yad, Hand in Hand Award from the Jewish Federation of OKC and the 2022 Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Direction of a Musical for Olney Theatre’s production of The Music Man. He is a member of the Rotary Club of Oklahoma City and an emeritus board member for the National Alliance for Musical Theatre.
Chair of the Day
Rob Ward is the fifth president and second alumnus to serve the Oklahoma Arts Institute as President. A McAlester native, he attended OSAI as a chorus student three times and has worked an additional 15 summers as a counselor, counselor coordinator, technical director, and faculty member; conducting the chorus in 2019. Ward has taught middle school, high school, and university choirs in Texas and Kansas and has sung with numerous professional choral ensembles across the United States. Rob holds degrees in vocal music education and choral conducting from Oklahoma State University (B.M.Ed.), Southern Methodist University (M.M.Ed.), and the University of North Texas (D.M.A.). He comes from a family of educators and artists who taught him the value of arts education. He lives in Grapevine, TX with his wife, Lindsey, their son, Karsten, and two amazing golden doodles, Barkley and Luna.