A 30-year member of the Dell'Arte performing arts company, Michael Fields was named director of the California State Summer School for the Arts in 2010.

Fields was born and raised in Kirkland, Washington, and studied communications arts at the University of San Francisco. He later earned an MFA in theater directing at Humboldt State. He is a founding member and producing artistic director of the Dell'Arte Company, an ensemble theater company in Humboldt County. His company performed at CSSSA’s inaugural 1987 summer session, and two years later he was asked to chair its theater program.

Fields was a member of the Board of Directors of Theatre Communications Group (TCG) from 1998 - 2004 where he served as the president of the International Theatre Institute/USA. He has taught at the Dutch National Theatre School, the California Institute of the Arts, Teater Studion in Stockholm, Sweden, and at Aarhus University "Dramaturgi Institute" in Denmark.  He has had articles published in a variety of national and international publications including Critical Perspectives, Writings on Art and Civic Dialogue. He co-authored or appeared in more than 25 Dell'Arte productions.

Fields remained as theater program chair until 2010, when he was asked by the CSSSA board of trustees to replace Director Robert Mark Jaffe, who had passed away.

Fields was a recent recipient of a grant from the James Irvine Foundation for Leadership Advancement. His appointment did not require legislative confirmation. He is paid $87,000 a year.

Full Profile of Michael Fields (Del’Arte International)