Tom has developed his career both as a teacher and an artist throughout the country for over 30 years.  Currently leading an interdisciplinary arts program, designing and delivering classroom theatre residencies in NYC, he serves as Director of Education for NYC’s legendary City Lights Youth Theatre.  He came to City Lights after three years with Periwinkle National Theatre, where he was a teaching artist, residency coordinator and curriculum author.  In New York City he has also taught and contributed to the mission of Muse Educational, using theatre and role-play as a pathway to achieve “teachable moments” with At-Risk Youth in K-12 classrooms.  With Muse, Tom also facilitated a series of professional development workshops for NYC administrators, counselors, teachers and staff professionals, and delivered one of the inaugural workshops at Columbia University for the debut of The New York City Department of Education’s HIV-AIDS Curriculum. 

He taught as a member of the faculty at Cornell University and worked to develop Cornell’s Outreach Program in Chicago, High Jump, a vibrant middle school playwriting residency.  As a master teaching artist with Florida Studio Theatre, he co-directed and guided a team of teaching artists delivering a statewide playwriting curriculum, which yielded new works for one of the most successful young playwrights festivals in the United States. 

He has also taught at The State University of New York at New Paltz, developed and taught an innovative approach to using the basic tenets of Meisner, Stanislavski, Grotowski and Boal to train 3D animators for Pixar and Disney at the Ringling School of Art & Design and taught acting for students in Marist College’s Correctional Facilities Program. 

A graduate of Ithaca College, Tom debuted on stage in New York City with the original productions of both Godspell and Grease and has been an actor and director in regional theatre, network television and feature films, including: a recurring role on General Hospital; several characters on Law & Order; the original cast of Zoot Suit, written by Luis Valdez and produced by The Mark Taper Forum; regional honors for directing A Few Good Men, 1776 and Equus; and three international film festival awards as best director for his documentary The Children of Izieu, which aired on PBS. 

He continues to serve as an Artistic Associate with the award winning Off-Off B’way group, The Drilling CompaNY, directing and acting with the company and leading their signature theatre immersion workshop which he co-developed: The Drilling CompaNY Workout.  He also serves as an arts consultant and instructor with The Brooklyn Children’s Museum, Harlem’s historic Apollo Theatre and Odyssey House.