I have a profoundly thought-provoking conversation with Director, Artistic Producer, and Professor of Theatre History/Directing, Michael Hackett. We discuss Michael’s formative years in a military family in Washington D.C., being mesmerized as a child by a televised production of the Nutcracker, wanting to be a dancer at a young age, being encouraged by his Marine Corps father to pursue a career in the arts, being inspired to become a theatre artist after seeing Peter Brook’s version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, falling in love with his wife (Claire) during his production of The Tempest, teaching at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts (LAMDA), learning how to create a safe/supportive space for his actors, working with Robert Wilson on his version of King Lear, creating theatre in Poland shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union, our time together at UCLA, working on a new project to make plays from around the world more accessible, and much more. Recording Date: Wednesday, March 16th, 2022. To learn more about Michael, please visit: https://www.tft.ucla.edu/blog/2011/09/08/faculty-michael-hackett/ To learn more about me, please visit: www.blindmaninblack.com