Michelle Ong-Hendrick has staged the operas La Traviata for Pan Opera; Albert Herring, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, The Enchanted Child, Noye's Fludde and The Elixir of Love, Cendrillon, The Marriage of Figaro, HMS Pinafore, Suor Angelica, The Lantern Marriage, She Loves Me, Bessie and Ma and Dido and Aeneas for the University of Connecticut: The Rape of Lucretia, Trouble in Tahiti, The Telephone, Hand of Bridge, Hansel and Gretel, The Old Maid and the Thief, Der Schauspieldirektor, Bastien und Bastienne, and the world premiere of Tom Sawyer for Hartford Opera Theater; Le mariage aux lanternes and the East Coast premiere of The Three Hermits for the Hartt School;  Le mariage aux lanternes and Les bavards for the Intermezzo Opera Festival. She also directed the plays Eurydice and Romeo and Juliet at Trinity College and eight short new operas for Hartford Opera Theater’s New in November Festival.  In addition to being Stage Director of UConn Opera Theater, she is a Visiting Assistant Professor at Trinity College and from 1998 to 2008 was an Associate in Opera at the Hartt School/University of Hartford. She has also been a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Massachusetts and has taught workshops at the Intermezzo Opera Festival, the International School of the Philippines, Central Connecticut State University and Hartford’s Trust House. She was founding Artistic Director of Hartford Opera Theater from 2008 to 2012. Her professional work as an actress includes roles in A Christmas Carol, Macbeth, The Threepenny Opera, The Nutcracker, Beauty and the Beast, Cymbeline, As You Like It, The Laramie Project, A Little Night Music, Eracism, and Arcadia at Hartford Stage, TheatreWorks, Playmakers Repertory Company, and the Ko Festival among others.  Ms. Ong-Hendrick earned a BA from the University of Massachusetts and an MFA from the University of North Carolina, Professional Acting Training Program. 

Performances:

• A Christmas Carol, Belle/Mrs. Fred, Hartford Stage, 1998-2007
• Macbeth, Lady Macduff/Weird Sister, Hartford Stage, 1998
• The Threepenny Opera, Playmakers Repertory Company, 1997
• The Nutcracker, Marie, Playmakers Repertory Company, 1996, 1997
• A Little Night Music, Fredricka, Playmakers Repertory Company, 1997
• Eracism, Howard Beach, Ko Festival, 1997
• Arcadia, Chloe, Playmakers Repertory Company, 1997
• Le mariage aux lanternes (Offenbach), director, Hartt School, Graduate Opera Division, 2005
• Les bavards, (Offenbach), 2005, director, Intermezzo Music Festival, Hartford, 2005
• The Three Hermits, (Stephen Paulus), director, Hartt School, East Coast premiere, 1999

Honors/Awards:

• University-Wide, Undergraduate Teaching Award, University of North Carolina, 1998
• Joseph Feldman Scholarship for Excellence in Acting, University of North Carolina, 1997
• Richard Adler Scholarship for Excellence in Acting, University of North Carolina, 1996