Erin Thompson Henry G. Fairbanks Visiting Humanities Scholar-in-Residence - Theater and Performing Arts

Erin Thompson

Bio

Brooklyn College | Brooklyn/NYC, NY
Master of Fine Arts | Theatre

Areas of Expertise:
Acting, Musical Theater, Directing, Dance (Ballet, Jazz, Tap, Musical Theater Styles) Shakespeare and First Folio Technique, Movement for Actors, Audition Technique, Ensemble Devised Theater, New Work Development, Direction and Choreography of Musical Theater and Classical/Contemporary Plays, Artistic Producing, Arts Education, Creative Development, Teaching Artist Leadership, Community Engagement, Theater Production, Curriculum Development, Creative Team Management, Audience Development.

Courses You Teach:

  • TH-110 BIPOC Voices in Theater
  • TH-207 Acting Technique
  • TH-161 Theater Design and Production Lab

Erin Thompson is thrilled to be joining Saint Michael’s College as the 2026 Henry G. Fairbanks Visiting Humanities Scholar-in-Residence! She will be leading the Theater Program within the Performing Arts Department at the McCarthy Arts Center.

Erin is the Founder and Producing Artistic Director of The Upper Peninsula Summer Theater Institute, as well as an award-winning Director, Choreographer, Equity Performer, Arts Leader and Theatre Educator. She is a passionate advocate for providing accessible, pre-professional theater education to the next generation of theatremakers. She hails from the Midwest, and recently relocated to Vermont from New York City with her family.

Erin received a BFA in Musical Theater from The Boston Conservatory of Music in 2003. She spent the next 15 years performing professionally in commercial musical theater at nationally renowned regional theaters all over the country. Amidst her experience on over 40 professional shows, she served as Dance Captain and Assistant/Associate Director/Choreographer to notable artistic and production teams on several of the shows, which would prepare her for her latter career as a Director-Choreographer. She draws on her many years of experience onstage to bring empathy to her leadership in the rehearsal room.

Following several years of working in the professional theater scene in Chicago, she moved to New York City in 2011, where she taught and worked with (and for) many of the wonderful humans of Broadway. She has been mentored by Randy Skinner, Lonny Price, Josh Rhodes, Jim Corti, and Wendy Hall. She is a proud member of Actors Equity Association, and was awarded an apprenticeship on the development of a world premiere musical for Roundabout Theatre through the Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation (2018-19 Observership class).

Erin most recently earned an M.F.A. in Theater from Brooklyn College (class of 2023), where she also served as Teaching Fellow to undergraduate students. Before the pandemic, she taught at the world renowned dance studio in New York City, Steps on Broadway. She has also been a Yoga teacher for over 20 years.

Her hope is to continue to break down barriers and co-create an exciting and visionary space for the next generation of theatermakers, and to help facilitate a more inclusive landscape in the American Theatre. It is her joy and her privilege to be a theatermaker in this lifetime.

Awards, Recognitions, and Memberships

Professional Affiliation: Actors Equity Association (since 2005)