Michael John O’Neill is a producer, writer and cultural programmer based in Scotland. As a writer, Michael’s first play Akedah won the Bruntwood Prize Original New Voice Award 2019 and premiered at Hampstead Theatre in 2023. His second play This is Paradise was presented at Traverse Theatre for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2021 and 2022 and won the Popcorn Writing Award. For screen, he wrote the short film Sore Afraid for BBC Scotland and National Theatre of Scotland’s ‘Scenes for Survival’ programme, was part of BBC Scottish Voices 2022, and has developed work for Element Pictures and House Productions.

As a producer, Michael is currently working with Screen Scotland and Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society, developing a programme for connecting TV and Film industry with fringe artists. He has toured productions in the UK and internationally, and worked with companies including Tron Theatre, Theatre Gu Leòr, National Theatre of Scotland, Tramway, The Arches and Traverse Theatre. He founded the Tron Theatre’s artistic development department, and as its Artistic Producer created infrastructure that continues to offer crucial support for theatre makers in Scotland. During his time at the Tron Michael commissioned and produced work including Little King’s Greater Belfast, SUPERFAN’s Like Animals, as well as Isobel McArthur’s How to Sing it, Daphne Oram’s Wonderful World of Sound, and the multi-award-winning hit Pride & Prejudice* (*Sort of).