BEACHES Playwright Thom Thomas Passes Away at 80

THOM THOMAS, script writer for stage, TV and film, succumbed to acute leukemia in Los Angeles on December 2, 2015. Recently Thomas co-wrote with Iris Rainer Dart the book for Beaches, The Musical, adapted from Dart's popular novel. Beaches had a tryout in Chicago at the Drury Lane Theatre this past summer, and a Broadway transfer is pending availability of a theater. Currently Astrablu Media, Inc. holds the rights to Thomas's completed screenplay adaptation of the novel, Vanished, with production planned for spring of 2016.

Thomas was a Pittsburgh, PA area native where in 1960's-70's he directed plays and musicals at Pittsburgh Playhouse, Civic Light Opera, Little Lake Theatre and his own summer theater - The Odd Chair Playhouse. 1966 he became a member of the American Conservatory Theatre under the helm of William Ball. He received the Cameron Overseas Grant from Carnegie Mellon University to study in Europe where he joined the Young Vic theater. Upon returning to America in 1967, he joined the faculty at Point Park University in Pittsburgh, where he led the theatre department from 1974 to 1977. He became Artistic Director at the Pittsburgh Playhouse and also was the Artistic Director for the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera in 1972.

His first play, The Interview, premiered at the Pittsburgh Playhouse starring Jose Ferrer and in 1976 had an Off-Broadway starring Louis Edmonds.

He moved New York City in 1976 to concentrate on writing for the stage, and several of his plays were produced Off-Broadway and in London, England including Without Apologies (Hudson Guild - NY; The Open Space - London); The Ball Game (Playwrights Horizons - NY); and Approaching Zero (LaMaMa ETC - NY).

In 1981 producer Steven Bochco, who had been Thomas's classmate in the playwriting program at CMU, asked him to come to Los Angeles to write several episodes for the TV series, Hill Street Blues, and that led to other TV writing gigs for series such as Hotel, A Day in the Life, Tales of the Gold Monkey, and the TV movie Private Sessions (1985) starring Mike Farrell and Maureen Stapleton. He also was Story Editor for series in development at Universal Studios.

More recently Thomas concentrated on writing plays. The drama A Moon To Dance By received several regional productions including a critically acclaimed 2009 version starring Jane Alexander, Robert Cuccioli and Gareth Saxe, directed by Edwin Sherin at the Pittsburgh Playhouse and reprised at The George Street Playhouse in NJ with the same cast and creative team. The play received "2009 Best Play" by The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, was nominated by the American Theatre Critics Assn. as "Best Play", and was short listed for the 2009 Pulitzer Prize in Drama. Other plays that were produced Off-Broadway were Without Apologies and The Ball Game. In L.A., Set In Motion had a well-reviewed premiere in 1995 at the Group Repertory Theatre and was nominated for ADA Best Play). The Interview and Without Apologies are published by Samuel French, Inc.

Thomas has been the recipient of a number of grants, including from the Ford Foundation (1969) and the National Endowment for the Arts (1978).

Thom Thomas was born on August 31, 1935 in Lawrence, PA, a mining town west of Pittsburgh. He is survived by his husband, Janis Purins; memorial receptions will be announced in LA, NY, and Pittsburgh after the New Year. His works are represented by Nicolosi & Co. agency.