Michelle Feza Kuchuk
director . writer
bio
Michelle Feza Kuchuk is a Turkish and American director and writer based in New York City, specializing in the development of new works from the page to the stage.
As a subject matter expert in mental health and suicide, Michelle also provides dramaturgical support and expert consulting for writers & creators wishing to tell powerful and authentic stories in these areas.
Described as a deeply compassionate leader and collaborator, Michelle is particularly interested in theater as a vehicle for change — not only in the stories that are told, but also as a way to promote sustainable and ethical workplaces behind the scenes. She is committed to creating kind, trusting environments that foster creative risk and dynamic storytelling.
current projects
Michelle is currently directing and dramaturgically developing the new musical Sunken Cathedral, which was recently accepted to New York Theatre Barn’s prestigious summer residency, Barn on Fire (2025), for which only two musicals were accepted.
As a musical theater writer, Michelle is currently developing Living: A Now Musical with Taylor Fagins (American Idol Season 20). As a playwright, she was a finalist for Working Theater’s Mark Plesent Commission Fund (2025), and is currently developing The Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory, a science fiction play about how far we’re willing to go to avoid death, and I’m Scared, a play about xenophobia and whose children deserve to feel safe (Noor Theatre Highlight Series, Finalist 2025).
She is also currently dramaturgically developing the new musical, Alone.
services
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DIRECTION
Direction (especially new work): Collaboratively lead and help shape your new work through pre-production, casting, rehearsal, and workshop(s). Create a dynamic, cohesive, and compelling production.
Associate or Assistant Direction: Help maintain your vision as the director through the rehearsal process and run, take notes and work with the cast, liaise between departments, and support the creative environment and process.
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WRITING
Musical Theater Book Writing: Create the book either alongside the composer/lyricist, or after the score has already been written. Along with you as the other collaborators, builds the dramatic foundation of the show.
Commission: Create a custom monologue, webseries, or other way to showcase your work as an actor. Create a full-length play or project that explores mental health/suicide themes, or showcases Middle Eastern writers.
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DRAMATURGICAL SUPPORT
Dramaturgical Support (In development or in production): Support the story, structure, and context of your script and/or production. Creatively collaborates as a thought partner to you as the writer, or you as the director, helping bridge the gap between the text, performance, and audience.
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SUBJECT MATTER EXPERTISE
Subject Matter Expertise (Mental Health, Suicide, Behavioral Health & Crisis, Trauma, Grief): Ensure your story as the writer and/or production as the producer/creative team is accurate, responsible, and portrays nuanced characters based on reality and not stereotype. Keeps the audience, as well as the cast and crew, in mind.
about me
Directing and assistant directing include Beautiful Thing with Nicu’s Spoon Theater and Sons of the Prophet, by Stephen Karam, with Roundabout Theatre Company. As a writer, Michelle has had her work optioned, produced, adapted, and published in New York City. She has also created plays using devising and verbatim processes. In the mental health and suicidology space, Michelle has impacted national training standards in crisis counseling, is published in Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior (2020 and 2021), and has spoken to thousands of people anonymously on multiple crisis lines.
Michelle is a member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, as well as the Actors Equity Association. Michelle is also a member of the Think Tank for Theatrical Innovation, a think-tank and activist group that identifies obstacles to equity, diversity, inclusion, and access in the theater industry, advocating for and enabling change.
As a SWANA/MENA person and the proud daughter of an immigrant from Turkey, she is thrilled to be a member of the SWANA Writer’s Co-Op, a joyfully collaborative and peer-led space for Middle Eastern writers.
