Mar 13, 2020
Michael Barker ’10 is the managing director of the Westport Country Playhouse in Westport, CT. He is interviewed by Emily Kling ’20
Prior to the Westport Country Playhouse he was the managing director of Marin Theatre Company, the general manager of Laguna Playhouse in Laguna Beach, CA, and managing director for the Los Angeles classical theater ensemble, The Antaeus Company. Before moving to California, Barker was associate managing director at Yale Repertory Theatre and managing director of Yale Summer Cabaret, and produced the first annual Carlotta Festival of New Plays. He was Seattle Repertory Theatre’s 2008 Managing Director Fellow.
Barker holds an MFA in theater management from Yale School of Drama and an MBA from Yale School of Management. At Yale, he was the recipient of the Daniel and Helene Sheehan Scholarship for theater management and a Kosciusko Scholarship for outstanding students of Polish descent. He served on the Yale School of Management Alumni Advisory Board, and is a current Association of Yale Alumni delegate.
He is a member of the inaugural class of artEquity diversity, equity and inclusion facilitators as well as a member of the vestry at St. Timothy’s on the Hill Episcopal Church in Fairfield. Prior to graduate school, he was associate director of marketing for Court Theatre in Chicago, and also worked with Goodman Theatre, American Theater Company, Sansculottes Theater Company, and The Playground Theater.