Michael Presser, born in Philadelphia, USA, is the founder and Executive Director of Inside Broadway

Inside Broadway

is an educational theatre company based in Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States. It was founded by Michael Presser and produces Broadway classics for children in a contemporary way in order to educate future generations on the art of musical theatre...

, a New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 educational theatre company for young audiences.

Inside Broadway

Inside Broadway was founded by Presser in 1982, at the request of the late President of the Shubert Organization, Bernard B. Jacobs, to create a student ticket program for the Broadway

Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

 musical

Musical theatre

Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...

 Cats

Cats (musical)

Cats is a musical composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T. S. Eliot...

.

The company now develops touring musical productions and educational programs that allow students in New York to experience theatre firsthand and learn from performing arts professionals. Over 28,000 students in 75 schools in all five boroughs participate annually.

The repertory has included:

• Leonard Bernstein
  Leonard Bernstein
  Leonard Bernstein August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, author, music lecturer and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the United States of America to receive worldwide acclaim...
  
  's On the Town
• Duke Ellington
  Duke Ellington
  Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions...
  
  's Sophisticated Ladies
  Sophisticated Ladies
  Sophisticated Ladies is a musical revue based on the music of Duke Ellington.After fifteen previews, the Broadway production, conceived by Donald McKayle, directed by Michael Smuin, and choreographed by McKayle, Smuin, Henry LeTang, Bruce Heath, and Mercedes Ellington, opened on March 1, 1981 at...
  
  
• George M. Cohan
  George M. Cohan
  George Michael Cohan , known professionally as George M. Cohan, was a major American entertainer, playwright, composer, lyricist, actor, singer, dancer, and producer....
  
  's My Hometown
  My Hometown
  "My Hometown" is a single by Bruce Springsteen off his Born in the U.S.A. album, that was the record-tying seventh and last top 10 single to come from it, peaking at #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. It also topped the U.S. adult contemporary chart, making the song Springsteen's only #1...
  
  
• Marlo Thomas
  Marlo Thomas
  Margaret Julia “Marlo” Thomas is an American actress, producer, and social activist known for her starring role on the TV series That Girl . She also serves as National Outreach Director for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital...
  
  ' Free to Be... You and Me
• Oscar Hammerstein
  Oscar Hammerstein
  Oscar Hammerstein may refer to:*Oscar Hammerstein I , cigar manufacturer, opera impresario and theatre builder*Oscar Hammerstein II , Broadway lyricist, songwriting partner of Jerome Kern and Richard Rodgers...
  
  's All Kinds Of People
• Irving Berlin
  Irving Berlin
  Irving Berlin was an American composer and lyricist of Jewish heritage, widely considered one of the greatest songwriters in American history.His first hit song, "Alexander's Ragtime Band", became world famous...
  
  's Land That I Love
• Richard Rodgers
  Richard Rodgers
  Richard Charles Rodgers was an American composer of music for more than 900 songs and for 43 Broadway musicals. He also composed music for films and television. He is best known for his songwriting partnerships with the lyricists Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein II...
  
  ' Broadway
  Broadway theatre
  Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
  
  , Bye Bye Birdie, The Pirates of Penzance
  The Pirates of Penzance
  The Pirates of Penzance; or, The Slave of Duty is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. The opera's official premiere was at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York City on 31 December 1879, where the show was well received by both audiences...
  
  
• Rodgers and Hammerstein
  Rodgers and Hammerstein
  Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II were a well-known American songwriting duo, usually referred to as Rodgers and Hammerstein. They created a string of popular Broadway musicals in the 1940s and 1950s during what is considered the golden age of the medium...
  
  's Cinderella

Inside Broadway receives funding from several New York City and New York State Government agencies.

In 2010 Presser received Theater Resources Unlimited's Humanitarian Award for his work with Inside Broadway.

Theatre experience

After graduating from Temple University

Temple University

Temple University is a comprehensive public research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Originally founded in 1884 by Dr. Russell Conwell, Temple University is among the nation's largest providers of professional education and prepares the largest body of professional...

, Mr. Presser worked as an arts consultant for the Deutsche Oper am Rhein

Deutsche Oper am Rhein

The Deutsche Oper am Rhein is an opera company based in Düsseldorf and Duisburg. The opera also has an associated classical ballet company....

 in Düsseldorf

Düsseldorf

Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the...

, The National Theatre

National Theatre (Prague)

The National Theatre in Prague is known as the Alma Mater of Czech opera, and as the national monument of Czech history and art.The National Theatre belongs to the most important Czech cultural institutions, with a rich artistic tradition which was created and maintained by the most distinguished...

 in Prague

Prague

Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...

, Czech Republic

Czech Republic

The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....

, Theatre des Westens in Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

, Theater Aachen

Theater Aachen

Theater Aachen is a theatre in Aachen, Germany. It is the principal venue in that city for operas, musical theatre, plays, and concerts. It is the home of the Aachen Symphony Orchestra. Construction on the original theatre began in 1822 and it opened on 15 May 1825...

 and Gaudi Musicals, Cologne

Cologne

Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...

.

He has worked with Karl Richter

Karl Richter

Karl Richter was a German conductor, organist, and harpsichordist. He was born in Plauen and studied first in Dresden, where he was a member of the Dresdner Kreuzchor and later in Leipzig, where he received his degree in 1949. He studied with Günther Ramin, Carl Straube and Rudolf Mauersberger. In...

, Carlos Montoya

Carlos Montoya

Carlos Montoya was a prominent Flamenco guitarist and a founder of the modern-day popular Flamenco style of music.His unique style and successful career, despite all odds, have left a great legacy for modern day Flamenco...

, Peter Nero

Peter Nero

Peter Nero is an American pianist and pops conductor.-Early life:Born in Brooklyn, New York, As Bernard Nierow, Nero started his formal music training at the age of seven. He studied piano under Frederick Bried...

 as well as the Preservation Hall Jazz Band

Preservation Hall Jazz Band

Preservation Hall Jazz Band is the name for numerous groups of Dixieland Jazz and traditional jazz bands at Preservation Hall in New Orleans, Louisiana, and on tours as organized by the Preservation Hall...

.

New York life

Presser is active in NYC community affairs as a member of the City's Community Board #5 for over 25 years. He sits on the Mayor's Midtown Citizens Committee and The Town Hall Foundation. He received the 2000 Heart to Heart Award for service in the Times Square

Times Square

Times Square is a major commercial intersection in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue and stretching from West 42nd to West 47th Streets...

 Theatre District and the 2005 Theatre Museum Award for Arts in Education.

Michael is a member of The University Club of New York, The Players Club

The Players Club

The Players Club is a 1998 comedy/drama thriller film from New Line Cinema starring Bernie Mac, LisaRaye, and Jamie Foxx. Ice Cube, who has a small role in the film, wrote and made his directorial debut. The movie made $5,894,607 in its opening week...

 and The Metropolitan Opera Club and a longtime resident of Greenwich Village

Greenwich Village

Greenwich Village, , , , .in New York often simply called "the Village", is a largely residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. A large majority of the district is home to upper middle class families...

in New York City.

He also belongs to The League of American Theatres and Producers, The Producers League of Theatre for Young Audiences, Inc(PLOTYA), The New York City Arts in Education Round Table (AIE) and the Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York (A.R.T./New York).