Mike Mazur – Vice President of Youth Theatres
Mike is thrilled to be a part of the NTPA family, having worked as a theatrical director, writer, choreographer and educator since earning his Bachelor’s in English, Speech and Drama Education from Bowling Green State University in his home state of Ohio. Since graduating, Mike has taught theatre at the High School, Community College and University level and earned his Master’s in Musical Theatre Writing from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.
He has directed over 60 shows in New York, New Jersey, Ohio and California. Among his favorites are Rent, Hair, Oklahoma!, The King and I, and Children of Eden. As a writer, his youth theatre piece THE SIXTH DAY has been performed in NYC three times, and he was commissioned to create “Simple Joys,” a revue of the work of Stephen Schwartz at the Cassidy Theatre in Ohio. As a youth, he was a member of The Singing Angels Performing Chorus, an internationally touring show choir based out of Cleveland, Ohio.
After graduating from NYU, Mike became their Artistic Director. Under his direction, the group toured Hollywood, London, Warsaw, and Paris; released two recordings; performed with Nancy Sinatra and Roberta Flack; and was invited to a Command Performance at The Pentagon. He then became a professor of Musical Theatre at California State University, Chico, where in addition to teaching and directing shows, he led the “Off-Broadways” Touring Ensemble in performances in New York and San Francisco.
These experiences have led Mike to lecture on the role of theatre in society at both The Sondheim Symposium in New Jersey (where he met Stephen Sondheim) and the International Conference on Fine and Performing Arts in Athens, Greece. He shares his experiences with the talented youth of North Texas and empowers them to use the performing arts as a tool to build the self-confidence needed to succeed in any career path they choose.