The Beginning
Michael, has always been interested in the arts and developed a passion for the arts. He was born under the Water Dragon sign.
The development period
During high school he was into sports, band/orchestra, Choir, Madrigal group, and he staged managed his first musical and was also an assistant director. He begin taking voice lessons during his senior year of high school. During his four years in college he sang in 3 full operas. In opera workshops he did many operatic scenes. During his undergraduate degree in music he became interested in the backstage area. His first full opera, Carmen, he designed and sang the role of Escamillo. From then on he was hooked on designing and learning more about the area of design. He took classes with Forrest Newlin, who becomes his mentor. He completed his undergraduate degree and was offered a scholarship to study in Graz, Austria at the American Institute of Musical Studies. At the same time he was also offered a full graduate teaching assistantship in set design at Emporia State University (ESU) and was awarded a job in the Summer Theatre program at ESU. Later on he was asked by his mentor to go to Texas Tech University and assisted in building the Ph.D. program in Theatrical Design. By 1976 he completed all his course work with a double major in Theatrical Design and Acting/Directing and a minor in Voice and Opera.
The Middle
Michael was asked by his mentor to come to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln as his Lighting Designer and Technical Director for two years. After two years he was ready to move on and try to live his passion of directing opera. He applied for the position of Opera Workshop Director and was waiting to hear from the UN-L School of Music whether he would land the job. While that didn't happen, he was offered a job with the University of Tulsa Theater Department as the Theater Designer. He developed that program from 10 students to 30 students and then decided he would move on and worked with a regional theater company. From there he started a theater consulting business. He was brought in to finish the consulting on a performing arts center for a local school district. He finished that job but the school district found out that he had a teaching degree and asked if he would like to open the performing arts center for Jenks Public Schools, he accepted the job and began his trek into high school education.
The second middle
The 1990's were a turning point for Michael. He was interested in creating a school for the arts. He got his break when Denver Public Schools hired him to start a magnet school for the arts. Not only did he start a succesful school but also opened a new performing arts center for one of the largest college campus' in Colorado.
Contemporary Period
In the 2000's Michael started developing his photography techniques. During this period of time he utilized his artistic style and added depth to his photos by thinking as a visual artist and using those techniques and incorporating them into his photography pieces. As Michael continues his journey into the medium of photography he also has become a fully licensed General Contractor and a Commercial Drone Pilot.
