Michael Tamburrino is an award-winning director, actor, and theatre educator who has worked in the Otsego county region since 2017. In Cooperstown NY, Michael serves as director and manager of Glimmer Globe Theatre and The Templeton Players, the resident theatre companies at two nationally-recognized museums: Fenimore Art Museum and Fenimore Farm and Country Village. He has also worked as adjunct theatre faculty at Hartwick College, and has directed, acted, and consulted with numerous regional theaters, schools, and arts organizations.
Pictured: Mike directing On the Verge for Hartwick College's Theatre Dept. in 2025.
Meet Mike Tamburrino
Fenimore Farm & The Templeton Players
At Fenimore Farm, Mike serves as producer and director for The Templeton Players, the resident theatre company at the museum’s living historic village. On weekends during the summer they specialize in performing short period farces from 1840-80, many of which appear to be unearthed and produced for the first time in over a century. These “comediettas” are often presented as traveling trunk shows that perform on the museum’s tavern green. As part of this series, Michael has also directed site-specific historical vignettes, co-written/directed an original “medicine show” based on the legendary Cardiff Giant hoax, and has directed a one-act operetta called Cox & Box. Additionally, he began a series called “Voices of History” which showcases pivotal American speeches and revolutionary thinkers who shaped our national story by fighting for civil rights. These performances allow for visitors to directly interact with iconic figures such as Frederick Douglass, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Patrick Henry, and Abigail Adams. Michael has also directed productions of A Christmas Carol which take place on the tavern balcony during Fenimore Farm’s annual winter festival of lights, as well as immersive performances of Poe’s “The Raven” during the fall.
Above: The Templeton Players in 2018
Above: The Raven in 2025
Above: A Christmas Carol in 2025
Fenimore Art Museum & Glimmer Globe Theatre
Mike moved to Cooperstown in 2017 when he was hired as Manager of Performing Arts Programs for Fenimore Art Museum and Fenimore Farm. There, he works full-time to oversee a diverse array of theatrical programming throughout the year.At Fenimore, he directs for Glimmer Globe Theatre, a company that focuses on contemporary reinterpretations of classical texts and primarily performs in an amphitheater on the shores of Otsego Lake.
There, he’s directed MainStage productions of Hamlet, As You Like It, Twelfth Night, and the musical A Year with Frog and Toad, in addition to producing, stage managing, and coaching actors in 10 other MainStage productions.Under his leadership, the program has grown considerably: from exclusively hiring community actors to what is now a residency program. Each summer, Glimmer Globe Theatre now pays and houses one guest artist to take on a leading role, doing the same with its stage management/theatre production internship for college students and recent graduates. Michael also oversees the “NEXT! Staged Reading Series,” an annual program which has given developmental readings and public performances to 31 new plays by 26 different upstate New York playwrights over the last decade. He’s also the creator and director of “Write Out Loud,” a juried performance showcase for poets, essayists, and writers of short fiction that has showcased 20+ local writers each year since 2020. Michael also produces/manages touring performances, concerts, and special performances in the off-season, and curates an annual Cabin Fever film series. He is also the discussion leader for a local Shakespeare Reading group based out of the Village Library.
Above: As You Like It, MainStage 2026
Above: Hamlet, MainStage 2025
Above: NEXT! Staged Readings 2025
Above: Write Out Loud 2024
Graduation & Collegiate Awards
While a student, he was a two-time recipient of the URITP Outstanding Performance Award for Venus by Susan Lori Parks (2015) and Mother Courage and Her Children by Bertolt Brecht (2016). Upon graduation, he received the “Charles I. Keelan Memorial Award,” which is given to a performer/director who shows significant promise working professionally in theatre. Later that same summer, Michael was an acting apprentice at the Williamstown Theatre Festival where he performed in both professional and student-devised productions, and took classes in advanced Shakespeare performance, clowning, improv comedy, and autobiographical storytelling.
Above: Venus (2015) as Chorus
Above: Mother Courage and Her Children (2016) as The Cook
Above: Mother Courage and Her Children (2016)
as The Cook
Education and Training
A 2016 graduate of the University of Rochester, Michael trained at the UR International Theatre Program, where he received a degree in Theatre Performance and Production. There, he studied Shakespeare with internationally renowned classicist and medievalist Russell Peck, studied and interned with Department Chair Nigel Maister, and took courses in acting and directing with many resident professors including Alexa Scott-Flaherty (Acting), Skip Greer (Directing), and Patricia Lewis Browne (Voice and Movement). He also studied under guest artists such as Tony-nominated director Lila Neugebauer, and director/performance artist Niegel Smith. Michael directed an award-winning production of The 39 Steps for student-led theatre company “The Opposite of People.”
Above: student headshot (2016).
Above: What the Butler Saw (2015) as Nicholas Beckett.
Above: The 39 Steps (2015).
Above: Directing students at Hartwick, '25
Above: Directing Spelling Bee... '24
Above: The Cast of Spelling Bee... '24
Above: Mike teaching a Shakespeare workshop for Cooperstown High School students, '26
Above: Actors coached by Mike in Gaslight (Angel Street), '21
Above: Students in On the Verge, '25
Above: Mike in RENT '23
Above: Mike in American Idiot '25
Above: Actors coached by Mike in The Importance of Being Earnest, '18
Adjunct Theatre Faculty at Hartwick
Mike joined the Hartwick College Theatre Department as an adjunct in 2025, where he served as the guest director of a department MainStage production of Eric Overmyer’s surreal globe-trotting adventure, On the Verge. He also worked as sound designer for the production, and was an advisor to a student for whom the project was their senior thesis.
Local & Regional Directing/Acting
In 2024, Mike directed an immersive production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee for Orpheus Theatre in Oneonta. He's also acted with them in numerous productions, including RENT, Young Frankenstein, Spamalot, and Damn Yankees. Additionally, he's acted with several other regional companies in: The Glass Menagerie, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Noises Off, American Idiot, Much Ado About Nothing, And Then There Were None, The Diary of Anne Frank, Rumors, The Wind in the Willows, Gaslight, Twisted, and more.
Local Education and Workshops
Mike has taught “Shakespearian Toolbox” workshops at several school districts in and around Otsego county, which have served as the introduction to Shakespeare for hundreds of local students. He’s also taught free acting workshops for adults as part of the Foothills Fringe festival in Oneonta.
Dialect Coaching (and more!)
Mike has served as a dialect coach for numerous local theater productions, including for The Importance of Being Earnest, Matilda: The Musical, And Then There Were None, Gaslight, The Wind in the Willows, and more. He's also been contracted to coach actors in The Nerd, The Bad Seed, and in preparation for collegiate auditions.
"... We know what we are, but know not what we may be."