Tom Slater:
CLASS OF 1964
Dickinson High SchoolClass of 1964
Wilmington, DE
Wilmington CollegeClass of 1980
Wilmington, DE
University of DelawareClass of 1976
Newark, DE
Tom's Story
Life
After HS, attended college (on and off) worked for a plastics manufacturer briefly, got drafted, came back home to a job with the same manufacturer and continued school as I could, graduated Cum Laude from Wilmington College in 1980. We have 3 daughters, 5 grandchildren between 5 yr and 25 yrs old . The oldest, Veronica, is a Spanish teacher at St Elizabeth High School in Wilmington. I retired, went to work for an automotive parts manufacturer and later on, a bank from which I retired, for real, in November, 2012. I have been an active member of Vietnam Veterans of America since 2001. My wife, Liz, taught English at Padua Academy, in Wilmington for over 35 years, during which time we chaperoned many trips to New York for Broadway shows. We also have been taking a couple of trips there, and to local ensemble presentations, on our own, each year, for other shows. In addition to the grandpop daycare routine, I am getting reinvolved with theater. Moved to Middletown with our daughter, Kathy a little over 6 years ago. We now live with Daughter Ann pending relocation to Twinsburg, Ohio with Daughter Kathy sometime this summer.
I have been in a children's' show, a musical version of Grimm's The Frog Prince....I can't sing but that didn't stop me....in the role of Princess Pandora's father - King Glum The Mediocre (sic) I also appeared as Captain Of The Guard in Shrek, The Musical. My audition piece for King Glum was a Rodney Dangerfield inspired version of Kids from Bye, Bye, Birdie. I have been involved more recently with Reedy Point Players, in Delaware City, in A Christmas Carol ( 2 seasons) , Dracula In Love, a One Act Play Festival , several murder mysteries, Full Frontal Nudity ( there was NO nudity, only a young man trying to draw audiences from a competing community theatre) in which I had 2 roles - both were as dirty old men, I have been involved with Blackjacks'N'Blarney, a piratical troupe and have performed in several Renaissance Faires, as well as Caberets.This group disbanded after a pirate fest in Belmar, NJ last summer - I had been with them for 3 years.
Liz received her Master's degree in Education (4.0 GPA!) has retired from Padua but is now an adjunct Professor of English at Wilmington University.
Since retiring, we have been to Broadway quite a lot....Expand for more
We have experienced Kenneth Branagh in MacBeth, Mark Rylance in Farinelli And The King, La Bete and Jerusalem. Josh Groban and crew in Natasha, Pierre And The Great Comet Of 1812. Other Broadway visits have included Hamilton, Memphis, Beautiful:The Carole King Musical, The Million Dollar Quartet, Kinky Boots, Jersey Boys, Mean Girls, An Inspector Calls, Avenue Q, Miss Saigon, and a few others. We have seen a lot of local theatre, more recently, 1776 by the Tidewater Players in Havre de Grace - which rivaled the Broadway company - Minor Fantastical Kingdoms and Inherit The Wind, at University Of Delaware's Resident Theatre, Most recently, our RPP season was cancelled because of the Covid 19 situation. Our most heralded presentation was to be The O'Malley Gambit which is based on the life of a "for real" Irish pirate queen, Grace O'Malley. I was to portray Lord Burghley (William Cecil) Lord High Treasurer and chief advisor among Elizabeth I's Privy Counsellors. The author, Kate Monaghan, was going to be in the audience for our performances.
Our children and grandchildren continue to amaze and keep us very busy.
I have also completed theatre courses at Wilmington University, the most recent conducted by Robert Tietze who has awesome creds! The final consisted of performances: Cyril's monologue in Big Nose (A Modern Cyrano), and Elyot in Act 1, Scene 1 of Noel Coward's Private Lives.- also a paper about guides to performing Shakespeare based on interviews with Ian McKellen, Judi Dench, Denzel Washington and David Tennant.
I portrayed a reporter in the Reedy Point Players (RPP) presentation of Humanity vs Pontius Pilate at Delaware City Community Center May 28 through June 2, 2019. Additionally, my pirate troupe performed at the Belmar, NJ Pirate Walk June 5, 2019 and the Ansonia, CT Midsummer Fantasy Renaissance Faire. July 6 and 7.
I"m getting involved with online theatre to relieve "pandemic monotony". I've been invited by one of my former instructors ( Rob Tietze) to assist him in an online presentation from Wilmington University on December 9. I am auditioning for a virtual performance of "It's A Wonderful Life" to be presented as a 40's radio show at noon December 19 from the Twinsburg, Ohio Library I was doing doing virtual Shakespeare on Saturdays for about 4 months.
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