 Thomas Q. Fulton, Jr.
"I believe the challenge of creativity is in itself is an end. As students gain knowledge of themselves in art, they develop an expansiveness of self and a thriving confidence that can affect and change the world.”
Tom Fulton
Read "Notes from the Director"
Read reviews of Mr. Fulton's classes
PROFESSIONAL BIOGRAPHY
A professional director, actor, teacher since 1975, Tom has been a respected figure in the northeast Ohio theatre community for 30 years.
In 1975, he founded and headed Center Repertory Theatre, a League of Resident Theatres company located in Playhouse Square in downtown Cleveland. There, his work included such critically acclaimed productions as Vanities, by Jack Heifner, which
became the 2nd longest-running play in Cleveland history; Streamers, by David Rabe; and the world premiere of Michael Paller's moving adaptation of A Christmas Carol.
In 1980, Fulton headed the the Phoenix Theatre Ensemble, a company of actors, directors and playwrights, who worked and trained together. It was at Phoenix, that Fulton began the professional actor training program focusing on the Stanislavski system of actor development, which he now brings the the Chagrin Falls Performing Arts Academy. A number of acclaimed productions were mounted at Phoenix Theatre, including: The Three Sisters, winner of the Cleveland Critics' Circle Award for Best Professional Production, Getting Out, Whose Life is it Anyway, Cyrano De Bergerac, Our Town, Bus Stop,
Ashes and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
After a 5 year stint as an actor with the Cleveland Play House (1984-1989), Fulton created, along with Director/Actor Andrew May and Managing Director, William Meckler, The Cleveland Theatre Company. CTC was operated under a Small Professional Theatre Contract and was dedicated to the production of classic plays performed by the regional artists of Northeast Ohio. Ultimately the company, in with associate director Wayne S. Turney, formed an alliance with The Factory Theatre at Cleveland State University. Here, Mr. Fulton did some of his most ambitious work, directing Hamlet, 'night Mother, The Cherry Orchard, his own adaptation of Chekhovs' Uncle Vanya, and others. In addition to directing, he acted in King Lear, Man and Superman, Uncle Vanya and Two Rooms.
Tom began his theatrical career as an actor with the Heights Youth Theatre and
the WKYC TV East Ohio Fairy Tale Theatre, directed by Jerry Leonard. His
senior year in High School, he attended Interlochen Arts Academy in Traverse
City, Michigan and went on to earn a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Professional Acting
from Southern Methodist University. Among the theatre artists with whom Tom
has studied are Ray Bolger, Morris Carnovski, Arthur Lessac, Kristin Linklater,
Vivian Vance, Adrian Hall, Morton DaCosta, Joe Chaikin, Zelda Fichandler, Joe
Anthony, Tina Packard, and Joan Potter.
As a professional actor in Cleveland, he has performed or directed at Playhouse
Square Foundation, The Cleveland Orchestra, Blossom Music Festival, The
Cleveland Play House, The Cleveland Actor's Theatre Company, Center
Repertory Theatre, The Phoenix Theatre Ensemble, Cleveland Theatre
Company, The Actor's Summit, The Halle Theatre, and (for three years) as Artistic Director of Cain Park Summer Theatre.
Fulton directed the professional Equity premier of The Interview at the Halle
theatre. And, in April 2002, at The Actors' Summit Theatre, he played George in
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Recently, Tom played Don Quixote in Man of
LaMancha. under the direction of Fred Sternfeld, at the Halle Theatre, Tartuffe in Tartuffe at the Actor's Summit Theatre in Hudson, Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof (also directed by Sternfeld) at Cain Park Summer Theatre. In January of 2004, Tom directed an acclaimed production of Chekhov's The Seagull at the Beck Center. Then, in the fall of 2005, Tom took on the classic role of Emile de Becque in South Pacific for the JCC's Arts and Culture Program at the Performing Arts Center at Tri-C Eastern Campus.
In September of 2007, Tom co-authored (with Laura Theodore) and
directed the world premiere of Reflections, a musical play based on the life of
Peggy Lee.
Tom serves part time as Executive Director of The Fairmount Center for the
Arts. |
Recent Roles as an Actor
|
As Tevye in Fiddler On The Roof
|
|
As George in Whose Afraid of Virginia Woolfe? |
|
As Don Quixote in Man of LaMancha
|
|
As Tartuffe in Moliere's Tartuffe |
|
As Emile De Becque in South Pacific |
|
As Lear in Shakespeare's King Lear |
| |
|
