Michael Tick

Michael S. Tick (Dean, College of Fine Arts) joined the University of Kentucky in 2010 after serving 11 years as Chair of the Department of Theatre at LSU, where he also served as Artistic Director of Swine Palace, Louisiana’s premiere professional theatre company.  During his tenure, Swine Palace produced several regional and American premieres, including the world premiere of Cocktail by Ping Chong.  His production of Wendy Wasserstein’s The Heidi Chronicles, the first professional production of a Wasserstein play in Asia (Shanghai and Beijing); his production of Antigone was staged at the Young Theatre Festival 젊은 연극제, Seoul, Korea.

At UK, Tick oversees the Department of Theatre, the School of Art and Visual Studies, the School of Music, the Program in Arts Administration, the Singletary Center for the Arts, and the Art Museum at UK.

Before joining LSU in 1999, Tick served on the planning committee that established, in 1985, the Virginia Governor’s School for the Arts (GSA), a regional secondary arts school sponsored by the Virginia Department of Education and affiliated with the Virginia Stage Company, the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, and the Virginia Ballet Theatre.  As founding chair of the GSA Department of Theatre, Dr. Tick also served on the faculty of Old Dominion University.  He has taught and directed at the University of Rhode Island, Northwestern University, Harvard University, Rend Lake College (Illinois), The University of the Virgin Islands (St. Thomas), and Bretton Hall College of the University of Leeds.

Tick received the M.A. in Performance Studies from Northwestern University and the Ph.D. in Theatre from New York University.  His began his professional career working as an actor on the long-running sitcom, M*A*S*H.

Raised in Newport, Rhode Island, Tick spent many years associated with Providence’s Trinity Repertory Company, the Newport Music Festival, and the Newport Jazz Festival. While an adjunct professor at NYU, Tick worked on Wall Street as a trading support specialist with Merrill Lynch’s High Yield Bond Group.  He is a proud member of AEA (Actor’s Equity Association) and SDC (Stage Directors and Choreographers Society).