Biography: Michael Presser
Michael Presser is the Founder and Executive Director of Inside Broadway, a New York City based non-profit professional theatre company for youth now celebrating its 29th anniversary season.
The organization was originally established in 1982 at the invitation of Bernard B. Jacobs, the late President of The Shubert Organization, Inc., as an effort to create a student ticket program for the Broadway musical Cats. Today, Inside Broadway develops and produces touring musical productions as well as a wide range of educational programs that allow students to interact with professionals in the field and experience theatre hands-on in the classroom. More than 30,000 students in 85 schools in all five boroughs participate each year in Inside Broadway’s programs. The current repertoire features Duke Ellington’s Sophisticated Ladies, Smokey Joe’s Café, Marlo Thomas’ Free To Be. . . You And Me, George M. Cohan’s My Hometown, Oscar Hammerstein’s All Kinds Of People, Irving Berlin’s Land That I Love, Richard Rodgers’ Broadway, Leonard Bernstein’s On the Town, Bye Bye Birdie, The Pirates of Penzance, You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown and the R odgers and Hammerstein Cinderella.
Mr. Presser has worked extensively in the commercial concert and artist management fields, having served as a consultant to the Geneva Opera, Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf, The National Theatre in Prague, Theatre des Westens in Berlin, Theatre Aachen and Gaudi Musicals, Cologne. He has also served such notable artists as Karl Richter, Carlos Montoya, Peter Nero and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band.
He has been an active participant in New York City community affairs for over 29 years as a member of Manhattan Community Planning Board # 5 and has previously served as its Chairman. Currently he sits on the boards of the Times Square Alliance, Mayor’s Midtown Citizens Committee, The Broadway Association and is a trustee of The Town Hall Foundation. He is the recipient of the 2000 Heart to Heart Award for service in the Times Square Theatre District and the 2005 Theatre Museum Award for Arts in Education. He has also been honored by The Broadway League and the Coalition of Broadway Unions and Guilds for over 25 years of service to the Broadway industry and this year will receive the 2010 TRU Humanitarian Award for his efforts in developing new audiences for the theatre.
Mr. Presser is also a member of The Broadway League, The Producers League of Theatre for Young Audiences, Inc. (PLOTYA); The New York City Arts in Education Round Table (AIE); Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York (A.R.T./New York).
A Philadelphia native, he is a graduate of Temple University, a member of The University Club of New York, The Players Club and The Metropolitan Opera Club and a longtime resident of Greenwich Village in New York City.
