Michael John Garcés is a director and playwright based in Los Angeles, focused on the development and production of new plays, devised work, reimagined classics, and community-engaged projects. He has been a proud Member of SDC since 2001. He is a Professor of Practice in the English Department at Arizona State University.
Recent productions include Warroad Community Potluck by Kira Obolensky (Mixed Blood), Fake It Until You Make It by Larissa FastHorse (Arena Stage and Mark Taper Forum), The Play You Want by Bernardo Cubría (Road Theatre Company), For the People by Larissa FastHorse and Ty Defoe (Guthrie Theater), Wrestling Jerusalem by Aaron Davidman (Intersection for the Arts) and the just and the blind by Marc Bamuthi Joseph, created in collaboration with composer Daniel Bernard Roumain (Carnegie Hall and The Kennedy Center).
He was the Artistic Director at Cornerstone Theater Company, a community-engaged ensemble based in Los Angeles, from 2006 to 2023. At Cornerstone he commissioned, produced, and directed plays by many writers including Alison Carey (California: The Tempest), Juliette Carillo (Plumas Negras and Ghost Town), Larissa FastHorse (Urban Rez, Native Nation, and Wicoun), Peter Howard (Lunch Lady Courage), Naomi Iizuka (What Happens Next and 3 Truths), Page Leong (AtTraction), Lisa Loomer (Café Vida), Will MacAdams (Flor), KJ Sanchez (For All Time), and Mark Valdez (Highland Park Is Here), among others.
As a company member at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, he directed several productions, including Max Frisch’s The Arsonists, Danai Gurira’s The Convert, and the world premieres of Luis Alfaro’s Oedipus El Rey and Craig Wright’s Grace.
He has directed at the Alliance Theatre, South Coast Rep, ASU Gammage, La Jolla Playhouse – Without Walls, Pioneer Theatre Company, ACT Theatre, Arizona Theatre Company, The Wilma Theater, Folger Theatre, Puerto Rican Traveling Theater, Second Stage, Playwrights Horizons, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Repertorio Español, and many other theatres.
Plays he has written include TOWN (Horizon Theatre), south (Great Plains Theatre Commons), Acts of Mercy (Rattlestick Theater), points of departure and customs (INTAR), THE WEB (needtheatre), agua ardiente (American Place Theatre), and several plays produced by Cornerstone Theater Company: Los Illegals, Consequence, Magic Fruit, The Forked Path, and 36 Yesses. Upcoming: Mascs (Profile Theatre Company) and The Americanos, commissioned by the National Day Laborer Organizing Network.
The Native Nation Project, three plays created in collaboration with Larissa FastHorse, was published by TCG Books in 2025.
He is recipient of the Doris Duke Artist Award, the Princess Grace Foundation Statue Award, and the Alan Schneider Director Award. He is an alumnus of New Dramatists.