Paul Michael Thomson

For his recent performance as Vickie Versailles in the sold-out, thrice-extended run of At the Wake of a Dead Drag Queen by Terry Guest at The Story Theatre, Paul Michael received the following write-up that just had to go somewhere on this website: “The phenomenal Paul Michael Thomson […] is credible at every single moment. As vulnerable as he is forceful, this actor inhabits a wounded character who is unafraid to deviate from the drag queen cultural gospel, not all of which he even knows. Truly, Thomson’s work as the second banana in this show is one of the best pieces of acting I’ve seen this year in Chicago” (Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune). We’ll take it, girls. Girls? We’ll take it.

This summer, Paul Michael’s play Artemis Books & the Well-Meaning Man will have its ~world premiere~ at the Village Theater in Chicago, IL. Set in a feminist bookstore in Tucson, Arizona during the 2018 midterms, Artemis Books & the Well-Meaning Man explores coalition movements and the tensions between identity and ideology. It’s a comedy! It runs July 18 to August 3 at Rivendell Theatre and with director Clara Zucker at the helm, you won’t want to miss it. Unless you do. But then you’re wrong. :)

Theatre Annual, the nation’s oldest theatre periodical, recently published Paul Michael’s book review of the fabulous Black Patience: Performance, Civil Rights, and the Unfinished Project of Emancipation by Julius B. Fleming Jr. This is Paul Michael’s third publication to date, and he is so grateful it centers this groundbreaking scholarly text!

In 2026, Paul Michael’s newest play Pot Girls will hace its word premiere production at his artistic home, The Story Theatre. Directed by his fellow Governing Ensemble member (and best friend) Ayanna Bri Bakari, this riff on Caryl Churchill’s Top Girls asks what role writing plays in the revolution and the ethics of activism as aesthetic. What’s more, Raven Theatre will be producing Churchill’s masterful Top Girls in rep with Pot Girls, creating a collaborative conversation between the two plays and our two companies! (I mean, come on, that’s sickening.)