Princess Grace Statue Award, 2007

Princess Grace Award
Theater Fellowship, 1995

Additional Grants:
• 2005 Special Project Grant
• 2010 Special Project Grant
• 2017 Special Project Award

Michael John Garcés is the artistic director of  Cornerstone Theater Company in Los Angeles, California, where he has directed many plays, including Urban Rez by Larissa FastHorse, California: The Tempest by Alison Carey, Plumas Negras by Juliette Carrillo and Café Vida by Lisa Loomer.  Plays he has written for Cornerstone include Los Illegals, Consequence, The Forked Path (presented at the International Community Arts Festival, Rotterdam) and Magic Fruit, an adaptation of the opera “The Magic Flute”, which will premiere in the fall of 2017.  He is a company member at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in Washington, DC, where projects he has helmed include Lights Fall on Grace by Chad Beckim, We Are Proud to Present… by Jackie Sibblies Drury, The Convert by Danai Gurira, Oedipus El Rey by Luis Alfaro, and Grace and Recent Tragic Events by Craig Wright.  A core member of the Living Word Project in San Francisco, he has collaborated with Marc Bamuthi Joseph on several projects which have toured to venues all over the country such as The Brooklyn Academy of Music, The Kennedy Center, The Walker Art Center, The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago and many others; these include /peh-LO-tah/ a futbol freedom suite, red, black and GREEN: a blues, and the break/s.  Other plays he has directed include District Merchants by Aaron Posner (Folger Theatre), Wrestling Jerusalem by Aaron Davidman (several theatres including The Guthrie Theatre, Mosaic Theatre, 59E59 Theatres, and The Cleveland Public Theatre) and Seven Spots on the Sun by Martín Zimmerman (The Theatre @ Boston Court).  Other theaters where he has directed include The Wilma Theatre, South Coast Repertory, Actors Theatre of Louisville – Humana Festival, New York Theatre Workshop, INTAR, Hartford Stage, Huntington Theatre, Second Stage and many others.  Other plays he has written include south (Great Plains Theatre Conference); THE WEB (needtheatre in Los Angeles), points of departure and customs (INTAR), Acts of Mercy (Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre) and agua ardiente (The American Place).

Michael is the recipient of the Princess Grace Statue Award, The Princess Grace Award Fellowship and the 2017, 2010 and 2005 Princess Grace Award Special Project Grants.  He has also received the the Alan Schneider Director Award, a TCG New Generations: Future Leaders Grant, a NYFA Artists’ Fellowship for Playwriting, two National Association of Latino Arts and Culture Fund for the Arts Grants, a Van Lier Directing Fellowship, a NYSCA Individual Artist commission and the NEA/TCG Career Development Program Grant.  A member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers, he has served on the Executive Board of the organization for many years.