Michael Hackett is a professor and former chair of Theater in the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. He has directed for the Royal Opera, Covent Garden; the Royal Theatre at the Hague; the Centrum Sztuki Studio and Dramatyczny Theatre in Warsaw; Santa Fe Short Story Festival; Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl; LA Opera (children’s series); Musica Angelica; Antaeus Company; Geffen Playhouse; Getty Villa and Getty Center, Hammer Museum and 15 radio productions for L.A. Theater Works including Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest (which was nominated for two Audie Awards) with Charles Busch. Familiar to opera audiences in Southern California, Michael Hackett has lectured extensively for LA Opera and, for these activities, was given the Fifth Annual Peter Hemmings Award by the Opera League of Los Angeles.