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Tom Fulton

Artistic Director

Academy for the Performing Arts

Founder of the Academy,

Artistic & Managing Director

tomtq2@gmail.com   

440-247-2072 x4334

Tom Fulton is an award-winning professional actor, director and teacher.  

He has served as :

  • Founder and Artistic Director Academy for the Performing Arts since 2008

  • Executive Director for the Fairmount Center for the Arts;

  • Artistic Director for Center Repertory Theatre at Playhouse Square in Cleveland, Ohio;

    • EQUITY LORT THEATRE​

  • Artistic Director of the Phoenix Theatre Ensemble,

    • Small Professional Theatre SPT​

  • Artistic Director of the Cleveland Theatre Company

    • Small Professional Theatre SPT​

  • Artistic Director for Cain Park's Summer Theatre.  

    • Small Professional Theatre ​

  • 5 years as a company member (Actor, Director)  of the Cleveland Play House.  

    • Equity LORT "C" Resident Company​

  • Seven Years as Chairman of the Equity Liaison Committee Cleveland Ohio​

 

Tom has been a proud member of  Actors Equity Association since 1972.  

49 years!
 

At the ACADEMY FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS,  he has

directed such PLAYS as: 

  • THE CRUCIBLE

  • MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM

  • LOOK HOMEWARD ANGEL

  • MACBETH

  • RICHARD III

  • THE THREE SISTERS

  • THE CHERRY ORCHARD

  • THE SEAGULL

  • DARK OF THE MOON

  • NIGHT OF THE IGUANA.

  • VANITIES

  • DOUBT

  • THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST

  • A CHRISTMAS CAROL

                                                 and MUSICALS such as:

  • SWEENEY TODD

  • LES MISERABLES

  • CABARET

  • ROAR OF THE GREASEPAINT & THE SMELL OF THE CROWD

  • RAGTIME

  • SECRET GARDEN

  • INTO THE WOODS

  • THE FANTASTICKS

  • WEST SIDE STORY

  • MAN OF LA MANCHA

  • INTO THE WOODS
     

Carnegie Hall - New York City

Recently Mr. Fulton performed as Concert Narrator at CARNEGIE HALL for the American Symphony Orchestra in Bernstein's Kaddish Symphony.  

 

PROFESSIONAL ACTOR. (Selected Roles)

Cleveland Audiences may have seen Mr. Fulton acting professionally as

  • Captain Shotover in HEARTBREAK HOUSE   (Mamai Theatre Company) 

  • King Lear in Shakespeare's KING LEAR (Shakespeare)  (Cleveland Theatre Company)

  • King Lear in Shakespeare's KING LEAR (Smash Up Entertainment FILM)

  • Dr. Astrov in UNCLE VANYA   (Cleveland Theatre Company)

  • Charles Condomine in BLITHE SPIRIT  (Cleveland Play House)

  • Johnny Cantone in 1940's RADIO HOUR (Cleveland Play House)

  • Sigmund Freud in SECRET OBSCENITIES (Cleveland Play House)

  • Roderigo in OTHELLO (Cleveland Play House)

  • Tartuff in TARTUFF (Actor's Summit Theatre)

  • George in WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOL (Actor's Summit Theatre)

  • Don Quixote in MAN OF LA MANCHA,  (Halle Theatre) 

  • Tevye in FIDDLER ON THE ROOF at Cain Park Summer Theatre,

  • Emile DeBecque in SOUTH PACIFIC. (Cain Park Summer Theatre and JCC Theatre)

  • Doc Gibbs in OUR TOWN (Phoenix Theatre Ensemble)

  • - along with a resume of one hundred-some roles. 

 

Additionally, Mr. Fulton has directed many award-winning productions in Northeast Ohio:

  • Anna Christie (Center Repertory Theatre)

  • Vanities (Center Repertory Theatre)

              Second longest running production in Cleveland History 

  • Streamers (Center Repertory Theatre)

  • A Christmas Carol (Center Repertory Theatre )

  • Cyrano de Bergerac (Phoenix Theatre Ensemble

  • The Ruling Class (Phoenix Theatre Ensemble at Cain Park)

  • The Three Sisters (Phoenix Theatre Ensemble:  
             Winner Best Professional Production Cleveland Critic's Circle.

  • Getting Out (Phoenix Theatre Ensemble)

  • Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Phoenix Theatre Ensemble)

  • A Midsummer Night's Dream (Phoenix Theatre Ensemble)

  • 'night Mother (Cleveland Theatre Company)

  • The Cherry Orchard (Cleveland Theatre Company)

  • The Seagull (Phoenix Theatre Ensemble)

  • Hamlet  (Cleveland Theatre Company)

  • Twelfth Night (Cleveland Theatre Company)

  • Uncle Vanya (Fulton's Adaptation; Cleveland Theatre Company)

  • Camelot (Cain Park Summer Theatre)

  • Man of LaMancha (Cain Park Summer Theatre)

 

EDUCATION

BFA - Southern Methodist University - Theatre/Acting/Directing. 

ME Master of Education. Kent State University

Acting and Directing study with:

Jack Clay - Member, Actor's Studio; Head of the Professional Actors Training Programs at Southern Methodist University (1966 - 1986) and the University of Washington (1986 - 1991.) Founder and Artistic Director of "Stage #1," a professional acting company in Dallas Texas.

Joan Potter - Member, Actor's Studio; Professor of Acting, Southern Methodist University; Acting Professor for 30 years at SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Theatre Arts and Film.

Ray Bolger - American film and television actor, vaudevillian, singer, dancer (particularly of tap) and stage performer. Known for The Scarecrow in THE WIZARD OF OZ and Lord Fancort Babberly in the Musical, "Where's Charlie" on Broadway.

Arthur Lessac - American Voice Teacher - Author of "The Use and Training of the Human Voice" and "Body Wisdom - The Use and Training of the Human Body". Professor State University of New York. Teacher of voice, speech, singing and dialects at the Repertory Compay at Lincoln Center;  Collaborating with Elia Kazan, Robert Whitehead, Robert Lewis and Anna Sokolow.  

Kristen Linklater - Scottish vocal coach, acting teacher, actor, theatre director, and author of "Freeing the Natural Voice" and "Freeing Shakespeare's Voice".  Professor Emerita Theatre Arts Division of Columbia University; Founding member of Shakespeare & Company with Tina Packer; head of the Acting program at Emerson College.

Zelda Fichhandler -  American director and stage producer, educator; Artistic Director ARENA STAGE, Washington DC; Helen Hayes Award - direction of The Crucible ; Awarded the National Medal of Arts; Inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame.

Marshal Mason -American director, writer and educator.; artistic director of Circle Repertory Company in NYC;  Obie Award for Sustained Achievement in 1983. Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theater.

Alvina Kraus -  American drama teacher at Northwestern University, theatrical entrepreneur, director. Artistic director and driving force for Summer Theatre at Eagles Mere, Pennsylvania, for twenty years producing 178 plays by Chekhov, Ibsen, Molière, Rostand, Shakespeare, and Shaw. Students include Patricia Neal, William Daniels, Charlton Heston, Jennifer Jones, Paula Prentiss, ...Richard Benjamin. and hundreds more.

Morton DaCosta -  American theatre and film director, film producer, writer, and actor.  Director of the Film "Auntie Mame" with Rosalind Russell; Director of the original Broadway production of N. Richard Nash's "The Rainmaker" with Geraldine Page.
Joseph Chaikin -  American theatre director, actor, playwright, and pedagogue; Founder of The Open Theater - a theater co-operative that progressed from a closed experimental laboratory to a performance ensemble - exploring a "post-method", post-absurd acting techniques,

Michael Bogdanov - Welsh theatre director known for his work with new plays, modern reinterpretations of Shakespeare, musicals and work for young people.  Director Royal Shakespeare Company, Associate Director, the National Theatre; director Stratford Shakespeare Festival, Ontario.

Mildred Dunnock -  American stage and screen actress. She received two Academy Award nominations for her supporting performances in Death of a Salesman (1951) and Baby Doll (1956). Dunnock was also nominated for three Golden Globe Awards and a Primetime Emmy Award in her career.

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