Michael Barakiva

Artistic Director - Send Message

Michael Barakiva is an Armenian-Israeli American director and writer who has staged new plays, revivals, and classics in New York City and around the country. Barakiva began his tenure as the tenth artistic director of Cleveland Play House in December 2023. He directed CPH’s critically acclaimed production of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. He also served as co-director of CPH’s world premiere production of Ken Ludwig’s Moriarty: A New Sherlock Holmes Adventure. In addition to the CPH productions, Barakiva’s work has been seen at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Primary Stages, Syracuse Stage, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, and the Hangar Theatre, where he served as Artistic Director. He founded The Upstart Creatures, a theatre company that creates community through performance and food, as well as the Leadership Initiative Project, which equips historically excluded artists with the tools to succeed in leadership positions. Barakiva has received three Drama League directing fellowships, the Phil Killian Directing Fellowship (OSF), the David Merrick Prize in Drama, and was a Granada Artist-in-Residence at UC Davis. He led a week-long workshop on musical theatre at the International Puppet Theater in Sofia, Bulgaria, and was a presenter at the International University Theatre Festival at UNAM in Mexico City. He served as producer of Summer Camp 6 (Soho Rep) and as the Readings and Workshops Coordinator at New York Stage and Film, as well as a Primary Coach on Season 2 of MTV’s Made. As a writer, Barakiva is the recipient of a Red Bull Commission for his adaptation of John Milton's Paradise Lost, an EST/Sloan Project Commission, and a co-author of String Theory (Connotation Press). His young adult novels have been named to the Rainbow List, Equality Family Council Reading List, The Barnes and Noble’s Perfect Valentine’s Day YA Novels list, spending over a year as Goodreads #1 LGBTQ YA Novel. Education: Vassar College, The Juilliard School.

Rachel L. Fink

Managing Director - Send Message

Rachel L. Fink is honored to return home to Northeast Ohio and lead Cleveland Play House during its 110th anniversary season. A proud graduate of Cleveland Heights High School and Case Western Reserve University, she discovered her passion for arts access, social justice, and inclusive leadership through formative Cleveland arts experiences — and an early internship at Cleveland Play House. She later earned her MFA in Theater Management from the Yale School of Drama (now the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale) and has spent over two decades guiding cultural institutions across the country.Fink spent 16 years at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, where she founded and led the Berkeley Rep School of Theatre, building it into a nationally recognized hub for education and community engagement. She went on to serve as Managing Director of Theatre Bay Area, supporting over 300 organizations and 2,000 artists across the San Francisco Bay Area.She later led Chicago’s Tony Award-winning Lookingglass Theatre Company through the unprecedented disruptions of the COVID-19 era, guiding key operational and mission-aligned adaptations during a time of field-wide uncertainty.At Cleveland Play House, Fink has championed operational stabilization, community partnerships, and a revitalized internal culture while co-leading strategic and artistic planning alongside Artistic Director Michael Barakiva. She serves on the boards of the League of Resident Theatres (LORT) and CreativeOhio, and is a member of the Leadership Cleveland Class of 2026.A recognized field leader, she has co-led the Professional Association of Chicago Theatres, held fellowships with theAspen Institute, British Council, and University of Chicago, and was a member of artEquity’s national facilitator cohort — reflecting a career grounded in both local impact and national leadership.