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TOM FRYE Actor - Director - Playwright - Producer |
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| MAIN | BIO | SCRIPTS | RECOGNITION | PICTURES | TRU | |
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Tom has his BA and MA in Theatre from Wichita State University.
Credited with a wide variety of achievements, Tom's theatrical career on and off stage.
Some of his early work in theatre includes teaching high school at Wichita Southeast High School
for 14 years where he built the largest drama program in the state.
He also served as guest director at three other area high schools and two community theatres.
During these early years, Tom created a unique comic night club group, The Small Frye Company.
This troupe was active throughout the Midwest for more than ten years with Tom serving as manager,
performer and comic writer.
Tom later taught theatre classes at Wichita State University when he was chosen to fill-in during the Department Chair's sabbatical. For two seasons, he was Executive Director of Theatre for The Wichita Center for the Arts. During that time, his productions were honored with more Mary Jane Teall Theatre Awards (the area's highest theatrical recognition) than any of the other nine local theatres. Over the years, as a theatrical producer, he brought such celebrities as Gale Storm, Harry Carey Jr., Melanie Wilson, Richard White, Paul Petersen, Stan Livingston, Barry Livingston, Billy Benedict and Jimmy Lydon to the area. More than 250 productions mark Tom's career. Tom personally received five Mary Jane Teall Awards: 3 for Lucky Stiff, Tru and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. In 2001, Tom was inducted into the MJT Hall of Fame, recognizing thespians in the area with over 25 years of contributions to theatre. To date, Tom has directed more than 100 productions including Li'l Abner, Anything Goes, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Once Upon a Mattress, Wait Until Dark, The Children's Hour and Cactus Flower. While serving as director and producer, Tom continues to perform as an actor in such roles as Sgt. King (No Time for Sergeants), Ali Hakim (Oklahoma), The Cowardly Lion (The Wizard of Oz), Big Harp (The Robber Bridegroom), Matt (Talley's Folly) and Homer (Morning's at 7). He is currently serving as playwright/director/actor at Mosley Street Melodrama, where he is using his experience with more than 50 melodramas. And then comes TRU, a play based upon the life of the eccentric Truman Capote. As a "one-man" show, this compelling, poignant drama is indeed a penultimate role for any actor. Robert Morse was the first to create this role on Broadway. To be on-stage for nearly two hours, to exhibit an extraordinary gamut of emotions, to recreate a complicated yet brilliant man whose brilliant words and odd personality have created an American anomaly and an daunting test for any actor. This gauntlet challenged Tom to possibly his greatest role to date. The result? Magnificent. While Tom was performing the one man show TRU at the Wichita Center for the Arts, the play's authoress Jay Presson Allen and her Broadway producer husband Lewis Allen saw a video tape of the production. Based on the performance, Jay Presson Allen (screen writer for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Cabaret, Marnie and Forty Carats) and Lewis Allen (producer of Annie, A Few Good Men and Master Class) selected Tom to recreate the role in the upcoming Off Broadway Production and national tour of TRU. Most recently, Tom's production received rave reviews for a pre-Off Broadway run of TRU in St. Petersburg, Florida Tom is currently living in NYC where he is writing more scipts and preparing for his Off-Broadway prodution of Tru. |