In control

As a two-time Tony-winning producer, Mike Mosallam, BFA ’01, is quick to give credit where credit is due. So, when asked what motivated him to switch from being an accomplished on-stage performer to a behind-the-scenes creator, he is ready with an answer.

“I’m sure my controlling personality played a big role,” says the LA-based Mosallam. “I enjoyed having a big-picture vision rather than focusing on one singular character. At my core, directing is my favorite thing to do, especially because of how much I love working with actors.”

Producing is a close second, he says, citing recent collaborations with fellow School of Music, Theatre, and Dance graduates Thomas Laub and Alyah Chanelle Scott. Laub and Scott co-founded Runyonland Productions while still in Ann Arbor and have gone on to produce multiple award-winning shows on Broadway. Mosallam was a member of the producing team that won the 2024 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play for the Broadway reboot of “Appropriate.” And in 2023, he was a co-producer for “Parade,” which won a Tony for Best Revival of a Musical for “Parade.” Runyonland also produced the revival of “A Doll’s House” (six Tony nominations), starring Jessica Chastain, as well as the Tony-nominated “Gutenberg! The Musical!” and the current revival of “The Wiz.”

“To be part of a producing team that shepherds and selects successful pieces of art that resonate with audiences is a dream come true,” Mosallam says. “It’s lightning in a bottle whenever you win any award.”

Bottle it

(Image courtesy of Mike Mosallam.)

Mosallam’s whole career could be described as lightning in a bottle. A Dearborn, Michigan, native, he is a first-generation Arab-American and holds SMTD’s 2024 award for Professional Achievement in Theatre. He also has a master’s degree in musical theatre direction from the Boston Conservatory and counts directing credits on more than 100 theatrical productions.

And while theater may be his first professed love, movies also hold a place in Mosallam’s heart. In 2011, he founded Mike Mosallam Productions as an umbrella to write and direct his own films. His feature debut, “Breaking Fast,” follows a Muslim doctor (Haaz Sleiman) who falls in love with a Caucasian actor (Micheal Cassidy). The gay romantic comedy was first released as a short in 2015 and as a full-length film in 2020. “Breaking Fast” has an approval rating of 96% based on 25 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. But it took the “herculean efforts of a village” to get the gay love story made, the artist says.

“The normalcy and existence of queer Muslims – or queer people of any faith – exceeds and has been in and around our culture and our society for centuries,” Mosallam says. “These topics are only controversial to people who make them controversial.”

‘Intersectional storytelling’

Mosallam also wrote and directed the award-winning short film “Brothers” about a queer Muslim/Arab boy whose older sibling stands by him amidst bias and adversity. His short film “Ubuntu” was a co-production with the Muslim Public Affairs Council. The plot follows best friends and star athletes navigating the nuances of high school.

“Ultimately, the specificity of these stories only illuminates the universality of such themes,” Mosallam says. “I think that’s what draws so many of our partners who want to go on the journey of telling these stories with us.”

As for the small screen, Mosallam was the creator and executive producer of the reality TV show “All-American Muslim,” which premiered on TLC in 2011. The show lasted one season and followed the daily lives of five Lebanese-American Shia Muslim families in Mosallam’s hometown of Dearborn. He also was an executive creative consultant on season two of Hulu’s “Ramy,” a comedy-drama that premiered in 2019 and received praise for its portrayal of American Muslims.

“I really found the industry had a need for niche stories, and I want my production company to be at the forefront of that multi-hyphenated, intersectional storytelling,” he says. “When I got into directing and writing, I was interested in telling stories that felt familiar, but with people who looked like me. To be able to create stories featuring folks who weren’t your typical characters was highly important to me.”

Diversity behind the scenes

Mosallam prioritizes social change as an aspect of his own art, and says he hopes executives will increasingly pursue diversity in choosing, developing, and funding projects.

“Having a multitude of storytellers of color — writers, directors, and filmmakers — is really, really crucial,” he says. “The complement is having decision-makers of color – studio executives, artistic directors – who are able to greenlight projects and who understand the importance of this storytelling. This is where we should be putting some of our efforts.”

Mosallam’s second feature film, an adaptation of Heather Raffo’s “Nine Parts of Desire,” premiered on PBS in 2023. He is currently developing a TV series adaptation of “Breaking Fast” and a new tennis-inspired rom-com titled “Doubles.”

“I would say my work is more socially driven than politically driven,” he says. “That said, I think telling underrepresented stories and sharing this sort of non-monolithic existence of people is what really drives me. My first love will always be the theater, but I love the audience-capturing you can do in film and TV.”

Opening act

The youngest of four children, Mosallam discovered his love of performing as a student at Dearborn High School. He was mentored by teacher and fellow Wolverine Greg Viscomi, BFA ’84, and Martisa Madias-Kalasz. He considers both as surrogate parents.

Viscomi says, “I didn’t know who he was, and I couldn’t take my eyes off him,” of the first time he saw the freshman Mosallam in the ensemble of a student musical. “Without question, he is the single most talented performer I have ever worked with and taught. He can sing, dance, act, direct, choreograph, design, and teach. He is a multi-faceted theatrical talent, which is reflected in his abilities as a theatrical and movie producer and filmmaker.”

Mosallam says Viscomi’s mentorship gave him the courage to pursue a non-traditional career in the arts.

“Being a first-generation Arab-American Muslim, it wasn’t very customary for that to be a path I would take, but Greg was really instrumental of how I fit into the landscape of the theatre world,” he says.

With both mentors’ encouragement, Mosallam applied to U-M’s Dept. of Musical Theatre and was one of 20 performers selected in the 1997-98 academic year. He appeared in productions of “Assassins,” “Of Thee I Sing,” “Chess,” and “Mina & Colossus” (a musical by 1998 SMTD alumnus Sam Davis, an acclaimed Broadway composer/arranger/conductor).

Mark Madama, U-M professor emeritus of musical theatre, remembers meeting Mosallam in 2000 on his first day as a professor at SMTD. “I was casting Stephen Sondheim’s ‘Assassins’ (and) Mike dressed in a Santa Claus costume and performed the role of Samuel Byck with strength, vulnerability, and humor – much like how he is living his life now. I couldn’t be happier for all of his success.”

When Mosallam directed a U-M production of “Little Shop of Horrors,” he realized his desire to pursue directing. He also was the inaugural director of the song cycle “Edges,” an early project of U-M’s own EGOTs and 2006 grads Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. (The acclaimed creative duo are among the rare breed of performers who’ve won Emmys, Grammys, Oscars, and Tonys.)

Michigan Man

Mosallam hasn’t forgotten his roots. In 2017, he returned to the Boston Conservatory to direct a student production of Stephen Karam’s Pulitzer Prize-nominated “Sons of the Prophet.” He also contributes to the Dearborn theatrical community and has taught master classes in theatre to U-M students and other local performers.

In 2014, he founded the nonprofit Ann Arbor in Concert (A2iC), which produced one-night-only musical events until it folded due to the pandemic. Though not affiliated with the University, many U-M students appeared in A2iC programs.

“U-M is one of the first times in my life where I was seen as a whole being and was celebrated as a whole being,” says Mosallam. “That is why I find myself continually drawn to U-M and want to continue to support and uplift it. This recognition further exemplifies their commitment to the unique voices of artists.”

Being surrounded by artists from the theater community provides his greatest joy as a Broadway producer, Mosallam says.

“They’re the best folks out there – and all of my U-M alumni partners and friends are at the top of that list.”
 
 
(Images courtesy of Mike Mosallam. Inspiration for the story’s headline comes from James Joyce, who is credited with saying, “For myself, I always write about Dublin, because if I can get to the heart of Dublin I can get to the heart of all the cities of the world. In the particular is contained the universal.”)