Bio
Hailed by the Toronto Star as “one of Toronto’s most exciting playwrights,” Michael Ross Albert is a writer and indie theatre producer whose work has been staged across Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom.
Recently, Canadian dance icon Peggy Baker commissioned Michael to write Beautiful Renegades, a historical fiction inspired by Toronto’s 15 Dance Lab and the city’s avant-garde dance community in the 1970s. The play received its world premiere in 2022 at The Theatre Centre under the direction of Eda Holmes. Michael was commissioned by Mountain Movers Theatre Company to write When I’m Gone, a new musical about the night bluegrass pioneer Ralph Stanley visited a small West Virginia town and changed the lives of two teenage musicians forever. Featuring the music of the Stanley Brothers, When I’m Gone received its world premiere on New Year’s Eve 2023. Michael’s other commissions include the large-scale ensemble comedy The Bidding War (Crow’s Theatre) and an adaptation of Mordecai Richler’s novel A Choice of Enemies (Stratford Festival of Canada).
Michael co-produced the world premiere of his apocalyptic comedy Two Minutes to Midnight with the Assembly Theatre in Toronto. The theatre also staged a remount of his hit comedy The Huns (Patron’s Pick, Best of Toronto Fringe 2019) before touring the production to the Brighton Fringe in 2022. His thriller Anywhere also premiered in the Toronto Fringe Festival, where it was also named Patron’s Pick and selected for a remount in the Best of Toronto Fringe 2018 festival.
In association with the Storefront Theatre, Michael produced the world premiere of his play Tough Jews in 2017. The production was nominated for six Dora Awards including Outstanding New Play and Outstanding Production and received the My Entertainment World Critic’s Choice Award for Outstanding New Play.
Michael debuted five new works in the New York International Fringe Festival, including The Grass is Greenest at the Houston Astrodome, which was published in Best American Short Plays 2014-2015. His short play Starfishes was published in the 2010-2011 edition of the same anthology, and has received multiple productions throughout the US and Canada.
Michael has an MFA in Playwriting from the Actors Studio Drama School in New York City. He has taught new play development at his alma mater, the University of Waterloo.
