Black Space Ep.7: Alexander Thomas

JCTC’S TALK SERIES “BLACK SPACE” WITH ASHLEY NICOLE BAPTISTE CONTINUES WITH INTERNATIONAL AWARD WINNING ACTOR, WRITER AND CREATOR OF SCHWARZ GEMACHT, ALEXANDER THOMAS, NEXT ON NOVEMBER 3rd @7:00pm EST

Baptiste, an actor and a veteran youth theatre educator with the JCTC Youth Theatre and the Stories of Greenville initiative, was born in San Francisco. “I want to create an intentional safe space where Black artists from around the world can come together and have a human-to-human exchange about art, race and life,” she says. “This series is about expansion, and pushing past preconceived notions of blackness.”

Baptiste's next guest is Alexander Thomas. Married to a spouse who works for the Foreign Service, American born Alexander, has lived and worked in London, Berlin and Toronto where he won a Dora Award for Outstanding Performance in the Canadian premiere of BETWEEN RIVERSIDE AND CRAZY at Coal Mine Theatre. He was also in the Canadian premiere and award-winning production of THE ROYALE at Soulpepper Theatre, as well as the world premiere of FOR BOTH RESTING AND BREEDING at Talk is Free Theatre which travelled to Australia for the Adelaide Fringe Festival, and has also worked in the Toronto Fringe and Summer Works Festivals.
His self-penned solo play, THROW PITCHFORK premiered off-Broadway at New York Theatre Workshop in 2002 and later that same year regionally at Kitchen Theatre Co. in Ithaca, NY. It returned for a revival production at Kitchen Theatre Co. in 2017. It closed the 2004 Thespis International Monodrama Festival in Kiel, Germany where it won Special Honors Award, and was most recently seen at the National Black Theatre in Harlem for the American Slavery Project (ASP) and at the Michael Chekhov Theatre Festival in Connecticut. A video performance of Throw Pitchfork is currently streaming on the ASP website: https://www.americanslaveryproject.org/throw-pitchfork

He frequently works at Kitchen Theatre Co. where he has been seen in productions as diverse as OPUS, BROKE-OLOGY, AFTER ASHLEY, SUNSET BABY, THE WHIPPING MAN and a reprisal of his role in their production of THE ROYALE which also transferred to Geva Theatre Center in Rochester.

Other international credits include ON THE WATERFRONT directed by Stephen Berkoff in London on the West End, The Edinburgh and Hong Kong Arts Festivals, and the role of Ross in the Actors Repertory Theatre Luxembourg`s inaugural production of THE GOAT or WHO IS SLYVIA? He is a contributing writer for the American Slavery Project’s UNHEARD VOICES. His play SCHWARZ GEMACHT or HOW KLAUS FOUND HIS BLACKNESS was produced in 2014 at the English Theatre of Berlin and brought back in 2015. His acting training includes the Stella Adler Studio and the Meisner Technique with Richard Pinter.

Alexander Thomas (actor)

Toronto: Between Riverside and Crazy (Coal Mine Theatre), The Royale (Soulpepper Theatre), For Both Resting and Breeding (Talk Is Free Theatre /Adelaide Fringe Festival), Hangman (Storefront Theatre), Letters to Annabelle (Toronto Fringe), The Nails, A Girl Lives Alone (Summer Works Festival) USA: Opus, After Ashley, Broke-Ology, The Whipping Man, Sunset Baby, The Royale (Kitchen Theatre Company, Ithaca, NY) UK & Europe: On The Waterfront (Theatre Royal Haymarket / Edinburgh Fringe /Hong Kong Arts Festival) The Goat or Who is Sylvia? (Actors Repertory Theatre Luxembourg) Off-Broadway: Throw Pitchfork* (New York Theatre Workshop)

*Written and Performed by Alexander

The conversation is taking place Wednesday, November 3rd at 7:00pm EST; FB Live and Zoom webinar. Free Tickets

Webinar Link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86981715903?pwd=MUpmdVk4S2hZaDFxV1VtbUZvSzhQZz09

Meeting ID: 869 8171 5903 | Passcode: 492752

Tickets For SCHWARZ GEMACHT streaming on JCTC website November 12th @7pm

“As our city gentrifies while retaining its diversity, and indeed as the world is changing in fundamental ways, being right in the middle of these conversations is essential,” says JCTC’s artistic director, Olga Levina. “For us as a theatre company dedicated to sparking conversations that lead to deeper respect and understanding, we know we need to create a safe place to listen and learn and collaborate.”