Category Archives: In Memoriam

Joy, Pain, Poetry: The Life and Art of G. Valmont Thomas

The longtime OSF actor, equally a master of Shakespeare and August Wilson, wore his huge and complicated heart on his sleeve.

He was an outsized figure as zany, mercurial, tender, and tragic as the characters he put onstage.

To a large extent, we work in the theatre he made: modern, classic, vigorous, rigorous, company-based.

Making theatre in a small Idaho town perfectly suited his need, and his gift, for connection and dialogue.

An unassuming lighting designer, he specialized in making others shine, but he was plenty brilliant himself.

An exposed nerve, a calming presence, an irresistible catalyst, a wide-ranging empath—the composer/lyricist contained multitudes.

A drink with Stuart at Bar Centrale before curtain up was always a highlight of my time in New York.

Tributes from those who worked with or were inspired by the iconic Broadway and cabaret performer.

Suzan-Lori Parks, Robert Woodruff, Jean-Claude van Itallie, and Loretta Greco recall what America’s great bard of the West meant to them.

It started with acting exercises. Then in one night my life changed.