He went on to join The Stratford Festival's Young Company in Ontario and spent two years performing in a number of plays including Timon of Athens, The Knight of the Burning Pestle (title role), Much Ado About Nothing, As You Like It, and Macbeth.
[4] At Writers Theatre, Halberstam has directed Private Lives, Look Back in Anger, Candida, Fallen Angels, The Father,[5] Rough Crossing, Crime and Punishment, Benefactors, The Doctor's Dilemma, The Seagull, The Duchess of Malfi, Othello, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, She Loves Me, The Real Thing, Hamlet, Sweet Charity, Days Like Today, Isaac's Eye, and Arcadia.
Michael has also co-directed Death of a Streetcar Named Virginia Woolf: A Parody with Stuart Carden and Julius Caesar with Scott Parkinson.
Industry publication PerformInk reported, "from off-hand sexual comments to egregious propositions, the environment at Writers is one that is often described as sexually-charged, led by the otherwise well-respected co-founder of the 25-year-old company.
"[14] While he maintained the Artistic Director position after the initial investigation, Halberstam resigned from the theater in 2021 after continued reports of harassment and abuse.
The composer was soon joined by lyricist Jan Tranen and bookwriter Austin Pendleton, who both subtly added to and reworked Shaw's immaculately conceived text.
A Minister's Wife was the result of all four individuals' collaboration and premiered at Writers Theatre in May 2009 under Halberstam's direction and designed by Brian Sidney Bembridge.