Tom Mitchell

Associate Professor Emeritus at U of Illinois Champagne-Urbana / TWStL’s Scholar-in-Residence

Tom Mitchell is a professor of Acting and Theatre Studies for the Department of Theatre at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He chaired the Summer Theatre Program at Interlochen Center for the Arts and directed productions in Musical Theatre and Shakespeare. Mitchell served on the national committee of the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival and traveled the nation to review 56 productions by schools from Maine to Hawaii. He has directed five of Tennessee Williams’ earliest full-length plays including the 21st-century premieres of Candles to the Sun and Stairs to the Roof.

He has authored essays, articles, and presentations on Williams’ early career, and composed performances introducing these little-known works. Tom also directed two lost plays by the 20th-century Spanish playwright, Jose Lopez Rubio, and the premiere of James Still’s play Meet Me Incognito. He is former chair of the Mid-America Theatre Conference Directing Symposium and received the 2007 Award of Honor by the Illinois Theatre Association. With colleague Burnet Hobgood, Mitchell authored “A Framework for Directing in the Theatre” and has made numerous presentations on the practice of directing in the contemporary theatre.