Michael Schneider began his theatre studies at Reed College and graduated from Northwestern University's School of Speech. Since then he has taught a wide variety of students in an even wider variety of schools and school districts: in the Peace Corps in Borneo; in a rural elementary school in Pembroke, Ill., in a suburban middle school in Lakewood, Colo., at Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig School, an Indian alternative school in Cass Lake, Minn., and in the Rochester city school district's School of the Arts.
At School of the Arts, Schneider taught acting, dramatic literature, playwriting and mathematics from the school's inception in 1980 until his retirement in 1996. He enjoyed a reputation for selecting and directing unusual and provocative plays, including the American premiere of Congolese playwright Sony Lab'ou Tansi's Parentheses of Blood.
His other full-length play, Business As Usual, was written in collaboration with a School of the Arts playwriting student and was produced at the school in 1992. The play was a satire targeting the law enforcement response to, and the local media exploitation of, the case of a serial killer in Rochester. In his humble opinion, Schneider believes this play was ahead of its time and is multiple laughs ahead of the comedy sketches he's seen about the O.J. trial. Schneider has also written numerous short scenes and sketches designed for teaching acting to 12- to 19-year-old students. He and his wife, a public interest lawyer, have decided not to spend the rest of their lives battling institutions. They presently reside somewhere west of the Mississippi.
