Derrah, Thomas

views updated

Derrah, Thomas

PERSONAL

Career: Actor, director, and choreographer. American Repertory Theatre, founding member, c. 1981; appeared in productions at the Geffen Theatre and Doolittle Theatre, Los Angeles, American Conservatory Theatre, San Francisco, CA, Alley Theatre, Houston, TX, Goodman Theatre, Chicago, IL, LaJolla Playhouse, LaJolla, CA, Battersea Arts Center, London, and many other places throughout the United States and the world; taught acting at the Institute of Advanced Theatre Training, Harvard Extension School, and Harvard Summer School; director of American Repertory Theatre's annual production of The Island of Anyplace for children.

Awards, Honors: Elliot Norton Award, sustained excellence in theatre, 1994; Drama-Logue Award, 1997; Special Achievement Award, New England Theatre Conference for Excellence in Acting.

CREDITS

Film Appearances:

Headstone salesman, Mystic River, Warner Bros., 2003.

Himself, Chaos and Order: Making American Theater (documentary), Films for the Humanities, 2005.

Television Appearances; Movies:

Appeared in Del and Alex, Arts and Entertainment; Sganarelle.

Television Appearances; Specials:

Horatio, "Fool's Fire," American Playhouse, PBS, 1992.

Voice, Africans in America—America's Journey Through Slavery, PBS, 1998.

Television Appearances; Episodic:

Voice, "Apocalypse!," Frontline, PBS, 1999.

Translator/voice, "MacArthur," The American Experience, PBS, 1999.

Voice, "The Age of AIDS," Frontline, PBS, 2006.

Also appeared in Unsolved Mysteries.

Stage Appearances:

Orestes, The Oresteia, American Repertory Theater, Loeb Drama Center, Cambridge, MA, 1994.

Trinculo, The Tempest, American Repertory Theatre, Loeb Drama Center, 1995.

Orgon, Tartuffe, American Repertory Theatre, Loeb Drama Center, 1996.

Henry James, Alice in Bed, American Repertory Theatre New Stages, Hasty Pudding Theatre, Cambridge, MA, 1996.

Captain Trash/General Lasky, Ubu Rock, American Repertory Theatre, 1996.

Marcus Dowling, The Naked Eye, American Drama Center, Loeb Drama Center, 1996.

Tommy, Six Characters in Search of an Author, American Repertory Theatre, Loeb Drama Center, 1996–97.

Title role, Woyzeck, American Repertory Theatre, 1997.

Aristotle Onassis, Calvin, Charles Bartlett, Charles Collingwood, Joe Kennedy, Mur Doch, Teddy Kennedy, Truman Capote, and Ward Johnson, Jackie: An American Life, Belasco Theater, New York City, 1997.

Dr. Diaforos, Dr. Purgon, and M. Purgonin, The Imaginary Invalid, American Repertory Theatre, Loeb Drama Center, 1998.

Launcelot Gobbo/Duke of Venice, The Merchant of Venice, American Repertory Theatre, Loeb Drama Center, 1998–99.

Teddy Hodel, Valparasio, American Repertory Theatre, Loeb Drama Center, 1999.

Giovanni, We Won't Pay! We Won't Pay, American Repertory Theatre, Loeb Drama Center, 1999.

Charlie Chaplin, Charlie in the House of Rue, American Repertory Theatre, Hasty Pudding Theatre, 1999.

Constance Garnett, The Idiots Karamazov, American Repertory Theatre, Loeb Drama Center, 1999–2000.

Hal, Loot, American Repertory Theatre, Loeb Drama Center, 2000.

Antigonus, The Winter's Tale, American Repertory Theatre, Loeb Drama Center, 2000.

King Deramo, The King Stag, American Repertory Theatre, Loeb Drama Center, 2000.

Caliban, The Tempest, Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, Parkman Bandstand/Boston Common, Boston, MA, 2000.

Fuddy Meers, SpeakEasy Stage Company, Boston Center for the Arts, Boston, MA, 2000.

Chaplain, Mother Courage and Her Children, Loeb Drama Center, 2001.

Hal, Loot, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Main Stage, Williamstown, MA, 2002.

The boy, Snow in June, American Repertory Theatre, Loeb Drama Center, 2003.

Chorus leader, Oedipus, American Repertory Theatre, Loeb Drama Center, 2004.

Zuniga/The Guide, Carmen, American Repertory Theatre, Loeb Drama Center, 2005.

Chief cashier, Pollunder, and Robinson, Amerika or the Disappearance, American Repertory Theatre, Loeb Drama Center, 2005.

Bary, Olly's Prison, American Repertory Theatre, Zero Arrow Theatre, Cambridge, MA, 2005.

Chebutykin, Three Sisters, American Repertory Theatre, Loeb Drama Center, 2005–2006.

Various roles, I Am My Own Wife, Zero Arrow Theatre, Cambridge, MA, 2006.

Also appeared as Paul Brennan, The Marriage of Bette and Boo, Autolycus, The Winter's Tale, Big River, Mastergate, The Day Room, The CIVIL warS, and Family Voices, all American Repertory Theatre, Cambridge, MA; Big Time, American Repertory Theatre, then off-Broadway production; title role, Shlemiel the First, Geffen Playhouse, Los Angeles, and American Conservatory Theatre, San Francisco, CA; Fluellen, Henry V; Einstein, Picasso at the Lapin Agile; Hildy Johnson, The Front Page, Danton's Death, and Our Town, all Alley Theatre, Houston, TX; and "A Piece of Monologue" and "Ohio Impromptu," An Evening of Becket.

Major Tours:

Appeared in European, Israeli, and Asian productions, including Mr. Wilsons' Alcestis, French cities.

Stage Work:

Director and choreographer, The Island of Anyplace, American Repertory Theater, Loeb Drama Center, 2002.

OTHER SOURCES

Periodicals:

American Theatre, February, 1995, p. 13.