Tom Amen – Professor

With a BA in Acting from the University of California, Irvine and an MFA in Directing from the University of Utah, Tom began his career as a theater director and educator over 30 years ago. Currently celebrating his 24th year as a professor in the Theater Arts Department at Golden West College, Tom was nominated as Teacher of the Year during the 2014/2015 and 2019/2020 academic years, and was nominated for a Faculty Excellence Award in the Spring of 2022.

Prior to his arrival at GWC, Tom was an adjunct faculty member and guest director in the theater departments at Cypress College, Mira Costa College, Orange Coast College, Irvine Valley College, Riverside Community College, Orange County High School of the Arts, and the University of Utah.

As an educator, Tom is committed to helping his students succeed; whether it is the pride that comes from acing an exam, or the exaltation that comes from nailing a performance, mentoring students through the process of discovering and developing their own unique intellectual and creative strengths is what continues to drive Tom’s work as a teaching artist.

As a theater director, Tom has staged over 85 productions in California and Utah, and over 50 productions at Golden West College. Some of his favorite directing credits include: Inventing Van Gogh, On the Exhale, The Pillowman, Hamlet, Oedipus Rex, Acting: The First Six Lessons, Playing With Fire: After Frankenstein, The Great God Pan, Dracula, The Glass Menagerie, Never the Sinner, Orphans, Waiting for Godot, Quills, The Beauty Queen of Leenane, Yankee Tavern, 1984, Moby Dick, The Servant of Two Masters, A Streetcar Named Desire, Doubt, Othello, Proof, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Liar, Rashomon, What the Bellhop Saw, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, A Few Good Men, The Cripple of Inishmaan, Medea, The Grapes of Wrath, The Crucible, Shadowlands, Dancing at Lughnasa, Oleanna, The Diary of Anne Frank, Bent, Red Noses, and The Serpent.

Future GWC directing projects include productions of John Pielmeier’s adaptation of William Peter Blatty’s The Exorcist and Psycho Beach Party by Charles Busch, both of which will open during the 2023-2024 Mainstage Theater Season.

In addition to his work as a director, Tom remains engaged in several ongoing playwriting projects, including an original play, Lunger: The Last Days of Doc Holliday.

Away from the theater, Tom is an avid traveler, surfer, sailor, and snow skier. He is also the proud father of two Native American Indian Dogs, Thunder and Stormy, who are frequently mistaken for wolves.