Theater artist Erwin E. A. Thomas, who teaches as part of Centrum's Core Youth Faculty, has had a play he is starring in, "Southern Promises," reviewed in both the New Yorker and the New York Times.
Thomas is an actor, cultural artist and educator currently working between Seattle, WA and Brooklyn NY. Most recently, he played Ephraim in the New Federal Theater/ Caribbean American Rep’s production of Moon on a Rainbow Shawl.
Thomas wrote, performed and produced the one person show Quiet Violence of Dreams based on the prophet Nat Turner and his own experiences as a black male in America. In June of 2007, Thomas was part of the Public Theater’s Suzanne Lori-Parks 365 play Festival. He originated the role of Satan #1 in the new play The Surprise Witness, and apologia for Adam and Eve. Thomas performed as a member of the Germany based Nomad International Theater Ensemble in a production of the original work Homage a b.b. (based on the life and works of Bertolt Brecht) in Stuttgart, Germany.
Future projects include a role in a historical narrative film in remembrance of the African Burial Grounds on Wall Street in NYC. The Bridge Project: an intergenerational workshop that will bring the Civil Rights Generation and the Hip-Hop Generation together in a live, multi-media performance.
He is a founding member of Urban Scribes Project, and has served on the Board for Youth Speaks, Seattle. As a cultural activist Erwin has designed and facilitated workshops around the issues of race, Hip-Hop, media literacy, drama, and poetry. Thomas served on the panel for the Seattle’s Central District Forum for Arts and Ideas American Heritage Series: Patriot or Terrorist? Exploring the Legacy of Nat Turner and John Brown.
