Nathan Thomas
Interim Head of Musical Theatre, Department of Theatre & Dance

About Nathan Thomas
Nathan Thomas serves as the Interim Head of Musical Theatre for 2023-2024 after accompanying in Tracy Thomas’s voice studio, teaching Audition Prep, and music directing both The Rocky Horror Show and Starting Here, Starting Now during 2022-2023
His professional career has included performances on Broadway, in Las Vegas, and tours all over the U.S. and Canada (and to Brazil, China, Japan, and Russia), while his academic career prior to arriving in Memphis included appointments at the University of Cincinnati, Western Illinois University, Elon University, and as program director for the musical theatre programs at Western Carolina University and the University of North Carolina at Pembroke.
Education
M.F.A. (Directing), Artist Diploma in Opera (Stage Directing)
University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (1995)B.A. (Musical Theatre Production)
Indiana University (1991)Admitted
AFM Local 802
SDC (Associate Member)Research Interests
Teaching interests: acting, audition preparation, directing, music skills, musical theatre performance, song interpretation
Selected Creative Research
Upcoming
- Murder Ballad (director/music director) – University of Memphis, September 2023
- Into the Woods (music director) – University of Memphis, April 2024
Past
director/music director:
- 110 in the Shade, Adding Machine: A Musical, Assassins, Cabaret, Chess, Company, The Drowsy Chaperone, Into the Woods, Next to Normal, The Spitfire Grill, Spring Awakening
director:
- Betrayal, Candide, Next to Normal (co-directed with Terrence Mann), Oleanna, The Real Thing, Slowgirl (co-directed with Taylor Royer)
music director
- Ain’t Misbehavin’, Big River, The Bridges of Madison County, Chicago, Cotton Patch Gospel, Dani Girl, Fiddler on the Roof, Jersey Boys, The Light in the Piazza, Les Misérables, Oklahoma!
keyboards
- 42nd Street, Annie, Beehive, Cats, Fosse, Monty Python’s Spamalot, Pump Boys and Dinettes, Show Boat, West Side Story
actor:
- Oleanna, Richard 3, Seascape With Sharks and Dancer, Slowgirl