Paul Michael Thomson

For their work at The Story Theatre, Paul Michael and fellow Governing Ensemble member Terry Guest recently got to accept the Emerging Theatre Award from Broadway in Chicago & the League of Chicago Theatres. The best part was being chosen by all of the other member theatres to win this award! The second best part was the open bar.

Paul Michael will be presenting his paper “Revolting Queers: (Homo)sexuality Onstage in the Black Arts Movement” at African-American History Seminar through the Massachusetts Historical Society on October 21. He is thrilled to return to Massachusetts to present on his forthcoming dissertation. (Forthcoming being the key word.)

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.

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 have 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.)