Michelle J. "Micha" Rodriguez

Biography

Michelle J. "Micha" Rodriguez (she/her) performs and writes in the worlds of music and theater.
Ms. Rodriguez is the winner of the 2022 Helen Merrill Award for playwriting, and is a commissioned composer and lyricist at Portland Center Stage, Baltimore Center Stage and Black Cap Productions. She received a 2022 grant from NYC Women’s Fund for Media, Music and Theater, and was a Van Lier Fellow at Ars Nova in their Makers Lab. Other support includes: BAM, Lincoln Center, Artist in Residence, Lexington Theater Company in Lexington, KY; New York Theater Workshop; The Public Theater; the Sundance Institute; SPACE on Ryder Farm; The Sol Project; Kentucky Governor’s School for the Arts; Salonathon and the University of Chicago. Raised in the Pacific Northwest and Kentucky by Puerto Rican parents, Michelle’s work explores kids-of-immigrants stories, divine femininity, intuition, joy as resistance, healing and spaces in-between. www.michamusica.com

Ms. Rodriguez made her Joe's Pub début at the Public Theater in November of 2017 after a sold-out performance of her original musical, East o', West o'! at ANTFest at Ars Nova in June of 2017, which earned her a mention in The New Yorker. Beloved by NPR’s All Songs Considered team, her music project MICHA became a finalist for NPR’s 2018 Tiny Desk Contest with her song “Nena Nena Nena,” praised for a “bilingual set spanned laid-back southern soul and Latin pop flare” (NPR). She has received support from Ars Nova, New York Theater Workshop, SPACE on Ryder Farm, Kentucky Governor’s School for the Arts and the University of Chicago. Musicals include East o’, West o’! (Ars Nova/ANTFEST), and works in development. Ms. Rodriguez made her Public Theater début composing the music for The Mobile Unit’s production of The Tempest directed by Laurie Woolery, and she is currently under commission by the Public Theater for a new musical for their Mobile Unit program. B.A. in Theater and Arabic Language & Culture, Williams College.