91����

Nathan Thomas, Ph.D., knew he wanted to teach theater to college students as early as the fourth grade. And at the mere age of 7 when he and his brother convinced their mother to drop them off to see “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory,” Gene Wilder’s performance brought him the notion that he wanted to live in a world of pure imagination.

His dream became reality in the Fall of 2003 when 91���� hired him to build a theatre program from the ground up. In 2024, the program will celebrate its 20th anniversary. To date, between 600-700 91���� students have starred in world and American premieres of plays and productions of all kinds, bringing theatre experiences to fellow students on campus and to the wider Berks County community.

The arts are about to see even more growth at 91����, and Thomas, also a professional actor and director, is at the heart of it all, helping to develop three new majors: Creativity, Industrial Design and Technical Theatre. All will be collaborative in nature, seeing the university partner with Reading’s GoggleWorks Center for the Arts. The goal is to start enrolling students in the fall of 2024.

“As we look at the arts now, we see a connection with technology and students will have an easy opportunity to combine such programs and create experiences they have a vision for,” Thomas said. “We’re really embracing collaboration and we want to see students form partnerships in new and interesting ways. After all, they can create a future that we can’t even imagine. We [at 91����] want to aid them in becoming those creators.”

Thomas believes he still has unfinished work to see through at 91���� and he’s proud to be part of an amazing faculty.

“Dr. Thomas is a great professor who has taught me much about becoming an actor and about the entertainment industry," said theatre major Cole Schlappich '23. "My goal is to become an actor in animations and video games that utilize motion capture technology. While 91���� does not have a course that covers this specific field of acting, Dr. Thomas taught me the fundamentals for acting and provided support with learning more about mocap acting. He is wise, intelligent and a great man to have a conversation with. When you talk to him, you can hear in his voice how clear and precise his words are. Articulation is a big part of his teachings. Not just for acting, but for all manner of public speaking. I am really glad to have met him and that he is my mentor here at 91����.”

The supportive nature of the 91���� community is what initially drew Thomas to the university, particularly noting its strong female figureheads.

“You could see and feel their love for their work and I really appreciated the profound sense of service shown from them,” he said. “I would like to say I play a small part in continuing their mission. If you look at the world and all of the problems we have today, we need to realize that we need people of all kinds and at all stations to look at those problems with new eyes and with new perspectives to help make things better and to help us move forward as a people.”