MACT

One of MACT’s newer Board members is Tom Nelson of Cokato. Tom is a Packaging Engineer. He is married to Elisabeth and they have two children, Alex and Archie.

Tom has been active with the FungusAmongus Players since 2008, but was involved in theatre through elementary and high school. He currently serves as the Chairman of the Board of FungusAmongus Players. While primarily an actor, Tom also does sound and light design and directing. Tom says that he learned everything he knows about theatre from watching theatre, doing theatre and attending MACT and AACT festivals and workshops.

One of Tom’s earliest memories of being in a show was when he was in a Prairie Fire Children’s production of The Wizard of Oz. He remembers throwing up in a trash can before he went on for the first show. Tom quipped “So far that is the most nervous I have been!”

Asked about his favorite theatre story, he said “There are too many to pick just one! I think that is what is great about community theatre, it builds community, you have stories to tell after each production. Of course there was the one time I took the saying “break a leg” to different level and broke a foot on stage… but be sure to ask me about that one in person sometime! See you at the theatre!”

Tom choose two shows as his favorites, a musical and a play. For the musical, Tom chose Les Misérables. “We had an amazing and talented cast and crew, it easily was (and still is) the best musical I have ever been a part of. I played about 6 different characters in the chorus”, Tom said. “For the play I would have to pick The Romancers, which we were honored to take all the way to the AACT National Festival in 2015. I was one of the swordsmen hired to “kidnap” the young lady in the production. The festival cycle that year was truly a wonderful experience and being able to perform at a National Festival was a bucket list item that I was able to check off.”