Dobbins, who has staged over 250 plays and musicals, has been a longtime theatre educator in Nebraska and Illinois. He has served as Artistic Director and Guest Director in theaters in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Nebraska and has managed his own dinner theatres. Dobbins has been a recipient of the National Endowment for Humanities Summer Fellowships to study Shakespeare at Princeton, New Jersey.

Prior to becoming Artistic Director, Mike Dobbins staged numerous plays for the Heartland Theatre Company. He directed Buried Child, Sylvia, Molly Sweeney, Death and the Maiden and Glengarry Glen Ross. Since assuming the Artistic Director’s post in the spring of 1999, he has directed Clarence Darrow, A Day in the Death of Joe Egg, Rainmaker, Skylight, co-directed Stages, and played the role of Clarence Darrow in Never The Sinner.

Since assuming the Managing Artistic Director's post in the spring of 2001 he has directed Pieces of the Sky, Betrayal, The Andersonville Trial, Greetings and Eleemosynary. Dobbins takes leadership at Heartland in play selection, artistic staffing, general management and initiates new projects, partnerships and relationships with the community on behalf of the board of directors for the theatre. Dobbins succeeded Phil Shaw, who was the founding Artistic Director of the Heartland Theatre Company.