Michel Hausmann

Hausmann is of Jewish descent, and was born and raised in Caracas, Venezuela. After graduating from Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts with a BA in film,[5] Hausmann returned to Caracas. Once back, he founded his first theater company, Palo de Agua, in 2003 alongside executive producer, Yair Rosemberg. Under their leadership, Palo de Agua became an award-winning theater company. Its production of Jesus Christ Superstar was seen by over 170,000 people.[6] Following an attack by the Venezuelan government during the production, Michel Hausmann left Venezuela and moved to New York City to pursue an MFA in Directing at Columbia University.[7] While at Columbia, Hausmann studied under renowned directors such as Anne Bogart and Gregory Mosher, among others.[8] His thesis play, The Golem of Havana, played at La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club in 2013[9] and went on to have its world premiere at Barrington Stage Company in 2014.[10]

In 2016, Hausmann relocated to Miami, Florida and produced The Golem of Havana at the Colony Theatre in Miami Beach; it was Miami New Drama's debut production. Miami New Drama is the second theater company founded by Michel Hausmann. He co-founded it with playwright, director, and medal of the arts winner, Moisés Kaufman.[11] In 2020, Miami New Drama produced Seven Deadly Sins: Temptation in the Magic City, a series of seven short plays around the theme of the seven deadly sins, shown in vacant Miami storefronts along Lincoln Road while the limited audience, socially distanced due to Coronavirus restrictions, watches and listens via headphones. The production was directed by Hausmann and authored by playwrights Hilary Bettis, Nilo Cruz, Moisés Kaufman, Rogelio Martinez, Dael Orlandersmith, Carmen Palaez, and Aurin Squire.[12][13]

• New York Theatre Workshop 2050 Fellow[20]
• Shubert Presidential Fellow
• IRNE Award (Nomination)
• Richard Rodgers Award (Finalist)[21]
• Two-time Knight Foundation Arts Challenge Award Recipient[22]

During Hausmann's 2009 production of Fiddler on the Roof, the Grand Marshal of Ayacucho Symphony Orchestra, funded in its entirety by the Venezuelan government of President Hugo Chávez, abandoned the production two weeks before the opening, citing that its participation on a "Jewish play" would threaten the funding they receive from the Venezuelan government, a vocal foe of Israel.[23] The move was condemned by the Simon Wiesenthal Center and the Anti Defamation League.[23][24] The production went forward, performed on a rooftop in Caracas with various musicians stepping up to play the score.[23]

When preparing for a 2010 production of Jesus Christ Superstar in Caracas, Hausmann secured a sponsorship deal for US$300,000 (equivalent to $402,600 in 2022) with Research in Motion (RIM), makers of BlackBerry smartphones, and its cellular phone network partner, government-owned Movilnet.[25] Official documents released by WikiLeaks revealed that, less than a month before opening night, the sponsorship pair added a clause stating that the production could not place advertising space – even with other cash – in a list of media outlets banned by RIM and Movilnet for being critical of the Chávez regime.[25] Hausmann and producer Yair Rosemberg chose instead to cancel the RIM-Movilnet sponsorship deal, and went public with this information. When the production opened at the Central University of Venezuela, it was attacked with tear gas by masked assailants. While the rector of the university stated that the attack was a continuation of incidents targeting the university, Hausmann called it an example of Chávez' intimidation against any theatre group branded enemies of the state "because they seek to maintain their autonomy".[26]

• Producciones Palo de Agua Sitio Oficial
• Repertorio Español
• Interview with Michel Hausmann, November 21, 2018