“The theatre department is a direct beneficiary of the first phase of the Arts Complex building plan, and next year’s freshmen will graduate having been on the new stage and in the new space,” Tom says. “We'll be able to do shows we can't do in our current space, while also providing our students experience with state-of-the-art technologies that will help them in their career goals.”

To prepare for the future, Tom is changing the look of the department, including the theatre’s logo, posters and the way they brand themselves.

“This new building, with increased visibility and better parking, will dramatically increase the ease with which audiences can see who we are and what we do. Plus, it will have state-of-the-art equipment, a fly loft to aid scene changes, an orchestra pit and better audience facilities,” Tom says. “It will forever change what we do and how we do it.”

In the meantime, the department is focusing on recruiting more theatre majors, increasing fundraising efforts to bring in more guest artists and making the current building warmer and more inviting for audiences.

“At its core, NMSU Theatre Arts is a top-notch undergraduate theatre program. Since we don't have a Master's program, all our focus is on training our undergrads and offering them the most amount of time and attention we can. Compared to other theatre departments, ours offers a few unique programs,” Tom says. The department offers a Studies in London program, classes in Creative Dramatics and Stage Combat and a Scenographics lab, which are traditionally found at the graduate school level rather than the undergraduate level.

Tom says the connection with the American Southwest Theatre Company (ASTC) allows the department to bring in working professional theatre artists to work alongside students and company on productions. Recent artists include costume designer Christal Weatherly, scenic designer Thom Bumblauskas, actor Carla Noack and Guiding Light costume designer Shawn Dudley-Reeves.

Students can also act, design or direct main stage productions, which is uncommon in some programs, but the NMSU Theatre Arts believes in practical application.

“We are an educational theatre above all else, and our needs are always the student's needs,” Tom says. “We do productions that offer our students a variety of content and style for their artistic education. Outside of our majors, we also keep in mind that a large portion of audience are students, and we try to include at least one show we feel will appeal to them at this point in their lives, whether it be a show with college-aged characters, or designed in a very contemporary way, or a little more edgy. Students today weren't raised going to theatre, and many of them are seeing their first or second play ever at NMSU and that carries a certain responsibility for us to make the shows immediate to them.”

Tom, in Las Cruces with partner Kevin Andrew and “an incredible family of colleagues and artists with whom I work every day,” arrived at NMSU ten years ago as the department head after earning his Masters of Fine Arts from the University of Missouri-Kansas City and working as a freelance director. Tom is the recipient of the 2004 Robert J. Pickering Award for Excellence in Playwriting, the 2004 ATHE Playworks Award the Orlin R. Corey Outstanding Regional Playwright Award, the Richard Odlin Award, a Seattle Footlights Award, the Doña Ana Arts Council Newcomer's Award, and has been a selected participant in numerous playwriting festivals across the country. He currently serves as the managing director for the ASTC. He authored The Other Blocking which came out in January about the art of improvisation in acting.

“Theatre at its best is both a mirror of the community's interests and values, and a mirror of the world itself, which may have different interests and values,” Tom says. “Our purpose is to not only provide worlds our audience understands already, but to introduce them to new ones they don't. When we do that, we provide the community with an experience that brings them all together, and helps them understand their place in the world a little better.”