Anthony Reginald (Tony) Thompson was the youngest child of five of Will and Dossie Thompson born in Greensboro, North Carolina on November 1, 1945. A good student, Tony graduated from the historic James B. Dudley High School in 1963 and participated in the historic Woolworth Sit-Ins in 1960 which inspired other similar demonstrations around the United States. He matriculated at Winston Salem State Teachers College his freshman year and then transferred to the University Of North Carolina at Greensboro (Woman’s College) in 1964, the first year that men were admitted where he earned a double B.S. Degree in Business Administration and Economics in 1971.
His entire life was informed and inspired by the spirituality and early appreciation for drama acquired at Skenes Chapel Holiness Church. His work career included jobs with R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, Kaiser-Roth Hosiery Company, Square D Corporation, Baxter Laboratories Corporation, General Foods Corporation and Bellsouth Corporation, where he retired after 23 years as an Outside Plant Engineer in 2002. The job with Bellsouth moved him to Fort Lauderdale, Florida in 1978 where he joined the New Mount Olive Baptist Church and served as a faithful member for 40 years as the Drama Ministry Advisor, member of the Church History and Church Anniversary Committees.
Tony’s other life as an actor, director, playwright and community activist was put in overdrive in Fort Lauderdale where he co-founded the Black Renaissance Theatre Company in 1980. He was director in residence, co-executive director and board member of Wo/man’s Showcase, Inc. (which became the Anne White Theatre and later the White-Willis Theatre) in Fort Lauderdale from 1983 until 1988. He was a founding member of the Vinnette Carroll Repertory Company in 1985 and served as an actor, director, board member and general manager until 2000. As an associate and protégé of Broadway Director, Vinnette Carroll he learned much including how to invent the twenty-fifth hour. After her death he became Artistic Director of the Metropolitan Diversity Theatre Company in 2002. He also was the founder and artistic director of the African American Children’s Theatre Workshop, a division of the Vinnette Carroll Repertory Company from 1992 until 2000. During his long career Tony has been a featured actor in over 40 productions and has more than 60 plays to his directing credits. Since 2000 he has been specializing in writing plays which focus on stories from the African American experience and he has over 10 full length plays to his credit.
His other involvements include: served as a member of the board of directors of IMPACT (Interested Members of the Performing Arts Center Team) in Broward County from 1987 until 1989; served on the theatre panel for the National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts from 1985 until 2000;served as a mentor for Take Stock In Children of Broward County from 2000 until 2019; served as chairman of the board of Ancestral Legacies, Inc. from 2001 until 2006; served on the board of directors for the African World Artists Collective from 2006 until 2010; served on the Advisory Board for Florida Memorial University’s Lou Rawls Center for the Performing Arts in Miami from 2004 until 2007; served on the board of directors of the Fort Lauderdale Children’s Theatre from 2006 until 2010; and served as a board member and member of the Friends of the Broward County African American Research Library and Cultural Center from 2008 until 2019. In 2013 he curated a 72 panel exhibition entitled “Our History Is American History”, an exploration of the history of African Americans in Broward County, for the African American Research Library and Cul-tural Center. As a part of the exhibition he conceived and supervised the creation of a 30-minute documentary film with the same title from interviews he conducted of senior citizens who grew up in the Black community.
Honors: Carbonell Awards’ Ruth Foreman Pioneer Award 2000 , for significant contributions to the development of theatre in South Florida; ArtServe’s Encore Star Award 2001, for outstanding artistic contributions to the Broward County, Florida community; Broward County Florida Library Division’s Culture Keepers Award 2004, for outstanding contributions to the development, preservation and promotion of the culture and history of African descendants in Broward County and throughout the diaspora; JM Family’s African-American Achiever’s Award for Art and Culture 2006; ArtServe’s Artist of the Year for Com-munity Impact Award 2007; Zeta Phi Beta Sorority’s Award for Excellence in the Arts 2012 and Friends of Broward County African American Research Library and Cultural Center’s Distinguished Achievement and Community Service Award 2013.
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