Alumni Gatherings
Our recent Scholar gathering in Tempe—graciously hosted by Ryan Johnson (’02), co-founder and CEO of Culdesac—was a fantastic success! With Scholars from the very first cohort to our newest first-years in attendance, the evening was filled with inspiring conversations, new connections, and a powerful sense of community.
If you’re in Denver or New York City, don’t miss your chance to be part of this energy!
Denver: 6-8 p.m., Thursday, May 8
New York City: 6-8 p.m. , Thursday, May 22
April Alumni Hour features 1993 Scholar Wendy Cassity
4-5 p.m., Monday, April 14 (Arizona time)
There is still time to register for next week’s Alumni Hour with Wendy Cassity, an accomplished legal executive and corporate leader. She’ll share insights on the benefits of a humanities degree in the business world, navigating unplanned career transitions, balancing career with family, and the importance of networking and mentorship.
Special hybrid event featuring two alums
5:30-7 p.m., Tuesday, May 13 (Arizona time)
Join Flinn Scholars Michelle Yang (’99) and Naomi Jorgensen (’97) for a compelling conversation about Yang’s debut memoir, “Phoenix Girl: How a Fat Asian with Bipolar Found Love.” Yang, a national media contributor and mental health advocate, explores her journey from immigrant childhood to self-acceptance. This event will be held in person at the Flinn Foundation and on Zoom. Learn more.
Introducing Our Alumni Voices Series
Welcome to the first installment of what we hope will become a regular feature in this newsletter: profiles of Flinn Scholar alumni, nominated by fellow Scholars. This new series is designed to spotlight the diverse experiences, paths, and perspectives of our alumni community. Each profile reflects the voice of the featured alum in their own words (with minimal editing for clarity). This first profile comes at the suggestion of another alum through our newsletter submission form—thank you! If you know a fellow Flinn Scholar whose story should be shared, we’d love for you to submit a nomination.
Paul Michael Thomson
Flinn Scholar Class of 2011
University of Arizona
Actor and Playwright
Q: Can you share a little about your current role and what excites you most about your work?
Like a millinery model, I wear many different hats! This includes my roles as a working actor signed with Gray Talent Group, a playwriting instructor with Goodman Theatre, a doctoral candidate in Afro-American Studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, a Governing Ensemble member at The Story Theatre, and, I hope, a friend to all. I am extremely lucky to be fulfilled and excited about each of these roles in a distinct and generative way.
Next month, I will be acting in “At the Wake of a Dead Drag Queen” by Terry Guest, directed by Mikael Burke, running April 26-May 11 in Chicago. This play is a challenging two-hander that explores health disparities between Black and white gay men living with HIV in rural Georgia in the early 2000s, and it does so through the conceit of drag performance. (Everyone pray for me, as I will be wearing stilettos in an exact replica of a Shania Twain outfit.)
In a time when our queer community is under direct attack, HIV/AIDS-prevention funding hangs precariously in the balance, and the right to free expression seems suddenly up for debate, I am honored to get the chance to tell this story with Guest and Burke, two of my all-time favorite collaborators. I have always believed that theater is one of our surest paths to empathy through the facilitation of a shared emotional experience; “At the Wake of a Dead Drag Queen” is the exact kind of play that eliminates the divide between actors and audience to cultivate space for such compassion creation.
Other than that, I am teaching a few classes, preparing for the world premiere of my play “Artemis Books & the Well-Meaning Man” at the Village Theatre this July, auditioning and auditioning and auditioning, working on the first draft of a new play, and writing my dissertation.
I’m also on a fashion journey to dress cooler, but that’s a discussion for another day…
Q: How did being a Flinn Scholar shape your academic or career path?
I received so many gifts from the Flinn Foundation that it is challenging to even attempt to account for them all! The greatest gift was the financial support to complete two degrees knowing that my family would not be able to provide that support. Indeed, I was only able to pursue a career as an actor following graduation (a life that is famously…well, what’s the opposite of “stable” and “lucrative”?) because I was not saddled with crippling student loan debt. The munificence of the Flinn Foundation scholarship cannot be overstated.
Beyond the financial support, though, the Flinn Foundation instilled in me a deep belief in the validity of my career goals and my unique ability to achieve them. From my first interview until graduation, Flinn Foundation staff and the Scholars I met (including my incredible, inspiring, very attractive cohort in the Class of 2011) honored my belief in theater’s consciousness-raising potential and, moreover, the contributions I could make to the art form.
They also demonstrated that a career path need not be linear to be meaningful, encouraging me to pursue a dual-degree and two minors while in undergrad. I have taken this spirit of “I can do it all, I swear!!!” into my professional career, and this diversity of experience has become a strength, not a failure, of my résumé.
Finally, I would be remiss not to mention the incredible people I met because of the Flinn Foundation. From the friends in my cohort who have been seeing my shows for more than 10 years and now support my theater company (shout out to Amy Umaretiya, Jacquelyn Oesterblad, Katherine Richard, Shantanu Bala, Jasmine Anglen, and Aman Aberra) to the alumni who have offered strategic, meaningful mentorship (Aubri Carman, Kim Demarchi, Ravi Ram, Christina Kwasnica) to the staff members throughout the years who continue to make the Flinn Foundation feel like home (namely Matt Ellsworth, Haydee Kukowski, and Anne Lassen), the Flinn community is the gift that keeps on giving. I hope to always be an active, engaged member of that community who continues to pay forward the great love I have received.
Q: What’s some advice you’d give to current Scholars or recent alumni?
- Rejection is protection — the opportunities you do not receive often direct you towards the ones that are more in alignment with your purpose.
- Fake it until you become it — I saw this in a TedTalk in 2013, and it influenced the “I belong here” attitude I try to bring into every new space, even the ones that feel too fancy or cool for a little gay boy from Mesa.
- In a world that will often tell you no, tell yourself yes — no further explanation needed.
Q: Is there a project, achievement, or experience you’re especially proud of?
Founding and running The Story Theatre has truly been the most challenging, but also the most rewarding thing I have ever done. Working with my fellow Governing Ensemble members Ayanna Bria Bakari, Terry Guest, and Brenna DiStasio has put into practice my deeply held beliefs in collectivist collaboration and activist art making. I pinch myself daily that I get to create alongside people I respect (and LIKE) so much. To check out our work and how we are working to create the next canon of great American plays, visit thestorytheatre.org. Ding!
Q: How do you stay connected with the Flinn community today?
Social media, texting, events at the Flinn Foundation, group chats, coffee dates, and at least one retreat at an Airbnb in Michigan!
Q: What impact do you hope to make in your field or community in the coming years?
I hope to look back at this time in 10 years and see that I worked hard, stood in my values, created some beautiful and moving work, and was brave and kind and present along the way.
Q: What’s one unexpected skill you picked up during college that you still use today?
I devised a system of organizing my email that essentially allows it to function as a running to-do list, and it is truly one of the best decisions I have ever made. I also think the Flinn community taught me how to make friends and take interest in folks whose work differs greatly from my own — and to find value in that work! That has served me well as I have navigated different environments including waiting tables, studying in graduate school, volunteering for political campaigns, etc.
Q: If you had to describe your career path using only a movie title, what would it be?
Aspirationally, “A Star Is Born,” but more likely, “Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown.”
Alumni Newsletter Form
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