After graduating from Harvard University in 1990,[1] Barton relocated to Los Angeles and began his studies as an actor at the Beverly Hills Playhouse (BHP).
Simultaneously with his artistic training, he began working part-time for BHP in 1993, rapidly ascending to become CFO in 1997 and then the school's youngest ever CEO in 2003.
Katselas bequeathed BHP ownership to Barton, who still teaches at the school and oversees its operations, including expansion to both New York and San Francisco.
[9] As a director, Barton has helmed the following Los Angeles stage productions: ABOUT FAITH (2001), I MAKE YOU LAUGHING (2004), PINK DOT (2005), BURN THIS (2006), THE LAST FIVE YEARS (2007), RABBIT HOLE (2008), THE REAL THING [10] (2009), ENGAGEMENT (2010), and Project X presentations of THE HEIDI CHRONICLES (2012), OLEANNA (2013), SPEED-THE-PLOW (2014), and GRUESOME PLAYGROUND INJURIES (2016).
In 2012, he became more of an outspoken critic, as he took on the movement's disconnection policy, which affected Milton Katselas during his life[12] and came to interfere with Barton's own relationship with his piano teacher Mario Feninger.