Michael Hillyer was an Associate Director at Blue Heron Arts Center (As You Like It, Twelfth Night, O’Neill), the 29th Street Rep (Buffalo Kill, Coyote Ugly, Common Ground, Single & Proud), and the Wings Theatre Company (Space Trek, The Poodle Sisters, Stars & Stripes, Great American Backstage Musical). He has directed elsewhere in New York City at Playhouse 91, Irish Arts Center, Nat Horne Theatre, William Redfield Theatre, Douglas Fairbanks Studio (Gazelle Boy with Jimmy Smits and Grayson Hall), Altered Stages, Theatre For The New City, and The Duplex. He was a Visiting Guest Director at Seton Hall University (Woyzeck) and has also directed at Columbia University (Twelfth Night) and Cornell University (Wild Oats, The Hostage, Getting Out).
Michael directed and co-authored Slasher, the Splatter Rock Musical, which had a sold-out run at the American Renaissance Theatre, and a subsequent revival Off-Broadway at the Perry Street Theatre in a production choreographed by Susan Stroman. He has also directed at the Thomaston Opera House (Born Yesterday, Inherit The Wind), John Drew Theatre, Millbrook Summer Playhouse (Deathtrap, Morning’s At Seven, Mass Appeal), the Palace Theatre in Manchester, NH (Shenandoah, Man Of La Mancha) and the Palace Theatre in Stamford, CT (The Boy Who Cried Elvis!). Michael worked on the National Tours of Jesus Christ, Superstar and Forty Carats (starring Ginger Rogers) and also appeared as an actor for several seasons at the Hangar Theatre, Nutmeg Summer Playhouse, Thomaston Opera House, Millbrook Playhouse and Westchester’s Broadway Theatre.
Michael is a graduate of Eastern Connecticut State College with a degree in English, and received a Master of Fine Arts degree in Directing at Cornell University. He was a long-time member of the Society of Directors & Choreographers, and is a current member of the American Theatre Critics Association. He has written articles for The Village Voice and Backstage Magazine and has been a staff theatre critic for New York Theatre Guide and The Front Row Center since 2013.
Contact: mihillyer6@gmail.com
Contact: mihillyer6@gmail.com