Tom has led the St. Louis Shakespeare Festival since 2018. A Drama Desk-nominated director, he has developed or presented work at the Public Theater, The Old Globe, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, Shakespeare Society, Red Bull and more. He’s worked with Tony nominees Sting, Sherie Rene Scott, Laura Osnes, Will Swenson, Kelli O’Hara, Bill Irwin and others, and his productions have won DFW Theater Critics Forum and ECNY Awards and been nominated for CT Critics Circle and BroadwayWorld Connecticut Awards. He also co-founded Waterwell in New York and served as its Artistic Director from 2002-2018. There he created and produced more than a dozen world-premieres and adaptations of classics that were nominated for three IT awards, a Drama Desk, a New York Magazine Culture Award and a Village Voice “Best of NYC”. Known for building innovative community partnerships, he most recently resurrected the lost WWII-era Frank Loesser musicals, Blueprint Specials, featuring Broadway and military veterans and presented on board the former USS Intrepid aircraft carrier, as well as adapting and directing Waterwell’s dual-language (English/Farsi) version of Hamlet, designed and performed by a company of predominantly Middle Eastern and South Asian artists. As Artistic Director of Waterwell, he also oversaw the Waterwell Drama Program at the Professional Performing Arts School, one of the preeminent training grounds for young artists and innovators in the country, which offers daily, year-round, conservatory-style classes to more than 200 New York City public school students absolutely free of charge.

Susan joined the Festival in 2019.  Since returning to her hometown in 1995 Susan has had the pleasure of working for the Arts and Education Council as Vice President of Administration and Grants and at the Saint Louis Art Museum in their Curatorial and Development departments.  Prior to her return Susan worked for The Equitable in Chicago for their commercial real estate division and in New York City managing their corporate art collection and gallery. Her time spent at these institutions helped her develop strong internal and external client relations and a love of the arts.  When Susan isn’t working, she and her husband can be found around town with family and friends taking in all that St. Louis has to offer.

Austin joined the Festival in January 2020. A lifelong arts and humanities enthusiast, Austin has led or consulted on major fundraising campaigns for over a dozen of St. Louis’s premier cultural organizations in the past decade. Most recently, he was the Director of Development and Community Engagement for the Missouri Humanities Council, a statewide nonprofit organization and one of five partners in the Missouri Cultural Trust. He holds a BA in English from Fontbonne University with a concentration in professional writing and a minor in American Cultural Studies. As a proud St. Louisan and city booster, Austin is thrilled to bring his development and leadership expertise to Shakespeare Festival St. Louis—one of the city’s cultural gems.

Tori joined the Festival in Fall 2019. She holds an MA in Arts Management and an MBA from the University of Cincinnati as well as BA in Theatre Design and Production from the University of Northern Iowa. Tori is accustomed to “wearing many hats”, and has worked in non-profit organizations across the country as both an artist and an administrator. She co-founded and costumed designed for a burlesque troupe in her college town, built costumes at the Pacific Conservatory Theatre in California, and planned corporate and social events for a private dining club in Des Moines, Iowa. From 2016 to 2019, Tori oversaw marketing, fundraising, and event planning for Theatre Aspen—a summer theatre in one of the country’s top resort destinations. She is happy to return to the Midwest and connect with a new community of art lovers

Adam is an actor, director, producer and educator based in St. Louis for over a decade. He holds an MFA in directing from Baylor University, and a BFA and teaching certification from Fontbonne University. As an actor, he has performed with over a dozen local professional companies including the Shakespeare Festival St. Louis as part of the Shakespeare in the Streets program in both New World and Blow, Winds. As a founding resident artist of Mustard Seed Theatre he worked in many capacities including helping produce and direct “Bosnian American: The Dance for Life,” a community-engaged project with the Bosnian community of St. Louis. In 2015, Flores acted as a local line producer for the “Every 28 Hour Plays” a collaboration with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the One-Minute Play Festival, and the St. Louis community in response to the Ferguson movement. He began as a theatre educator teaching in the Parkway School district. Later he was Assistant Professor of Theatre at Fontbonne University. He recently also was lead Teaching Artist for the Festival’s Shake 101 teaching residency for the past two years.

Charlie Tatum is an Atlanta native with St. Louis roots. Since returning home in 2018, her creative passions have led her to projects in virtual media, visual arts, exhibition building and digital design. She has been named a Community Ambassador for the United Way of St. Louis and holds a strong devotion to non-profit work. Her background studies in Justice and Communications at Georgia Southern University have married with her artistic talents to help establish the organization, Painted Black; a group dedicated to connecting local black artists to resources and commissioned art opportunities. Painted Black was selected as the Arts Innovator for the 2022 St. Louis Arts Awards.

Deanna Jent is a Professor of Theatre at Fontbonne University. Her play Falling won the Kevin Kline award for Best New Play of 2011 and was nominated for a Drama Desk Best Play award following its Off-Broadway run in 2012. Falling is published by Dramatists Play Service and continues to be produced nationally and internationally. Her adaptations of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and C.S. Lewis’s Till We Have Faces have been performed at theatres around the country. Other plays include Bosnian/American: The Dance For Life, Imaginary Jesus and Six. Sisters. She was the artistic director of Mustard Seed Theatre company from 2007-2019, and has directed for the Illinois Shakespeare Festival, New Jewish Theatre, Shakespeare Festival St. Louis Touring Company, The Orange Girls and ACT Inc. She was named “Best Director of a Musical by the St. Louis Theatre Circle for Mustard Seed Theatre’s productions of All is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914 and Godspell. She has a BFA from Illinois Wesleyan University and a PhD from Northwestern University.

Colin McLaughlin is a Saint Louis-based playwright, musician, teaching artist, and social worker.  He received his Bachelor’s in Social Work from Saint Louis University. He is a member of the IMPACT Academy Players with the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Theater Department, a Project Manager at CHIPS Health and Wellness Center, and a founding member of The Action Art Collaborative. His plays have been produced regionally and nationally, most recently Jailbird at The Missouri History Museum and Real Talk in the 2021 COCAwrites Festival. Colin was a hospital clown at St. Louis Children’s Hospital for 5 years, and worked as a humanitarian clown in Guatemala and Peru with The Gesundheit Institute. He can be seen onstage this year in The Big Machine with Creative Center of Arts, and in RS Theatrics upcoming production of Once. He has worked as a teaching artist in Saint Louis for 5 years, collaborating with the Bread & Roses Youth Initiative, CLUB CHIPS at CHIPS Health and Wellness Center, COCA and Intersect Arts Center. Colin is thrilled to join the St. Louis Shakespeare Festival team and work with the incredible students of Sumner High School.