Tom Pearson

Tom Pearson is a director, writer, choreographer, filmmaker, poet, and multi-media performance and visual artist. He is best known for his original works for theater, including the long-running immersive theater hits Then She Fell and The Grand Paradise, and as a founder and co-artistic director of the New York City-based performance company Third Rail Projects. Tom's work draws from depth psychology, archetypal studies, and deep dream practices as well as the story-medicine and ceremony of his Native heritage (Coharie/Tsalagi) and its focus on Right Relationship. He holds an MA from New York University in Performance Studies and has received two Bessie Awards for choreography, a Kingsbury Award for writing, and an IllumiNation Award from the Ford Foundation and National Museum of the American Indian for his work in Native Theater. His company, Third Rail Projects, has also been recognized as part of the creative team of the Emmy Award-winning virtual reality adaptation of Neil Gaiman's Wolves in the Walls, and is recipient of numerous multi-media awards. Tom helms the Global Performance Studio, Third Rail's international program for cultural listening and exchange. He was recently named among the 100 most influential people in Brooklyn culture by Brooklyn Magazine and awarded artist fellowships in Saint Petersburg, Russia from CEC Artslink (Back Apartment Residency), in the U.S. from the Center for the Arts at Wesleyan University; and in Italy from the Bogliasco Foundation. He served as Creative in Reference for Olin College of Engineering for 2019-2020. Tom's first collection of poetry, The Sandpiper's Spell, was named among the Best Indie Books of 2019 by Kirkus Reviews and is available at tompearsonnyc.com.