About Mike
A Chicago native, Mike Brayndick, playwright, director, and artistic director, graduated from Grinnell College, the University of Chicago, and the University of Iowa with a Doctorate in Literature with an emphasis in interdisciplinary arts studies.
He began his playwrighting career as resident writer at the Chicago Playwrights’ Center with Fragments from the Permanent Collection, Connecting Flight, Anna Gerhardt, and In the Garden of the Prison, also broadcast on WJUF. Smithsonian and Luce Foundation grants led to How to Make a Rainbow, developed at Juilliard, performed in residency at Connecticut College, and directed by Mike at the 2003 St. Ives Festival and produced by On The Spot at the Greenhouse Theater Center in 2013.
His adaptation of D.H. Lawrence’s Sons and Lovers commissioned by Traffic of the Stage, toured the UK and was performed at London’s Bloomsbury Theatre with a U.S. premiere in 2019. Smithsonian and Luce Foundation grants led to How to Make a Rainbow, about the art and life of Joseph Cornell, developed at the Juilliard, and directed by Mike at the 2005 St. Ives Festival in the UK and in Chicago in 2013.
Chicago productions include: adaptations of Turgenev's Home of the Gentry and Balzac's, Pére Goriot, and Mike's original plays, Pieces of Klee, Lisette Dances Divine, and Scenes For A Green World. His contemporary comedies include: Only You Could Think That, What About Martha, All About Armando, Lives of the Zebra Finch, Lost and Found, Roundelay, Double Date, and A Restoration Comedy. His full-length romance, Called Home By The Sea, set in Cornwall, was performed, Spring 2019.
Mike has written, directed, and produced pieces for Zoom, including the science fiction/contemporary miniseries Elevator Music, available at On The Spot's YouTube channel. On The Spot’s 2022 Spring Festival, One Step At A Time, included three new one-act plays, Sit Calm about post-pandemic American life, Perspective Made Easy, a drama about racism, and the absurdist, Seeking Cedric. Mike wrote and directed Beside Myself, filmed on Zoom for the 2023 Buxton Fringe Festival.
He explored what is at stake when a public library is pushed toward a point of no return in, Overdue, and restaged his swashbuckling comedy, The Swordswomen of San Gimignano. Mike’s Autumn in Paris was a wonderful collaboration with Dancing On The Spot (DOTS) enhancing the drama with movement. He was delighted to return to England with the UK premiere of A Mid-Course Correction in Summer of 2024. And he delved into magical storytelling in The Cuckoo Clock, in Spring of 2025. Mike has written more than 40 plays, see the Scriptography page for a full list!
Active in progressive education issues, Mike has also created after school programs for drama and integrative arts. He has also written and directed for local school productions. In 2011-2012, Mike's short play End Game at Jansen School--a collaborative project with Professor Tania Giordani--was performed by community members at venues in the Chicago area, including Francis W. Parker School.
As a scenic artist, Mike has painted backdrops for ballet and theater. Illustrations from his work in progress, Victoria Park, the Past Reframed, a collection of poems about childhood, memory, and family heritage, set in the Edwardian East End of London, have been exhibited in the Chicago-area.
He began his playwrighting career as resident writer at the Chicago Playwrights’ Center with Fragments from the Permanent Collection, Connecting Flight, Anna Gerhardt, and In the Garden of the Prison, also broadcast on WJUF. Smithsonian and Luce Foundation grants led to How to Make a Rainbow, developed at Juilliard, performed in residency at Connecticut College, and directed by Mike at the 2003 St. Ives Festival and produced by On The Spot at the Greenhouse Theater Center in 2013.
His adaptation of D.H. Lawrence’s Sons and Lovers commissioned by Traffic of the Stage, toured the UK and was performed at London’s Bloomsbury Theatre with a U.S. premiere in 2019. Smithsonian and Luce Foundation grants led to How to Make a Rainbow, about the art and life of Joseph Cornell, developed at the Juilliard, and directed by Mike at the 2005 St. Ives Festival in the UK and in Chicago in 2013.
Chicago productions include: adaptations of Turgenev's Home of the Gentry and Balzac's, Pére Goriot, and Mike's original plays, Pieces of Klee, Lisette Dances Divine, and Scenes For A Green World. His contemporary comedies include: Only You Could Think That, What About Martha, All About Armando, Lives of the Zebra Finch, Lost and Found, Roundelay, Double Date, and A Restoration Comedy. His full-length romance, Called Home By The Sea, set in Cornwall, was performed, Spring 2019.
Mike has written, directed, and produced pieces for Zoom, including the science fiction/contemporary miniseries Elevator Music, available at On The Spot's YouTube channel. On The Spot’s 2022 Spring Festival, One Step At A Time, included three new one-act plays, Sit Calm about post-pandemic American life, Perspective Made Easy, a drama about racism, and the absurdist, Seeking Cedric. Mike wrote and directed Beside Myself, filmed on Zoom for the 2023 Buxton Fringe Festival.
He explored what is at stake when a public library is pushed toward a point of no return in, Overdue, and restaged his swashbuckling comedy, The Swordswomen of San Gimignano. Mike’s Autumn in Paris was a wonderful collaboration with Dancing On The Spot (DOTS) enhancing the drama with movement. He was delighted to return to England with the UK premiere of A Mid-Course Correction in Summer of 2024. And he delved into magical storytelling in The Cuckoo Clock, in Spring of 2025. Mike has written more than 40 plays, see the Scriptography page for a full list!
Active in progressive education issues, Mike has also created after school programs for drama and integrative arts. He has also written and directed for local school productions. In 2011-2012, Mike's short play End Game at Jansen School--a collaborative project with Professor Tania Giordani--was performed by community members at venues in the Chicago area, including Francis W. Parker School.
As a scenic artist, Mike has painted backdrops for ballet and theater. Illustrations from his work in progress, Victoria Park, the Past Reframed, a collection of poems about childhood, memory, and family heritage, set in the Edwardian East End of London, have been exhibited in the Chicago-area.
