MICHAEL BARAKIVA

"UP sticks with you long after the theater goes dark. Carpenter and this stellar production challenge the audience to think about the characters, their motivations, their relationships, and their futures."

- Adina Kletter

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"Director Michael Barakiva nimbly juggles all the elements of the production from the kitchen-sink family dysfunction to the surreal daredevil interludes (Walter's imaginary friend is the tightrope walker Philippe Petit)."

- Karen D'Souza (Mercury News)

 

"Barakiva directs with cool precision; in a play that soars so high off the ground, he manages to see to it that the lawn chair, this time anyway, comes most of the way safely back to Earth."

- Bob Keefer (The Register-Guard)

 

"The clever direction, by Michael Barakiva, is inventive and smart."

- David Templeton