Michael Baron

MICHAEL BARON (PRODUCING ARTISTIC DIRECTOR) – At Lyric, he has directed, Cinderella (Co-Direction with Dr. Brian Cheslik, Artistic Director of Deaf Austin Theatre), King of Pangaea, Concerto (world premiere), The Prom, Big River, 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, 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, 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, The Rocky Horror Show and the annual production of Lyric’s A Christmas Carol (also adapted). Baron has directed over 120 productions at theaters across the country, including Tosca (OKC Philharmonic) Mendelssohn’s Elijah (Canterbury Voices) as well as co-directing with Sandra Mae Frank an ASL/Spoken English production of The Music Man at The Olney Theatre in Washington, D.C., 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; 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: Big Nate (world premiere); 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 2010-2025: Poetry Out Loud National Competition Finals. Teaching: American University, Brown University, Holy Cross College, Oklahoma City University, and Rhode Island College. 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 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 2016 and 2022 Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Direction of a Musical.. He is a member of the Rotary Club of Oklahoma City and an emeritus board member for the National Alliance for Musical Theatre.