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 25th 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.

As an educator, Tom is committed to helping students succeed; the privilege of mentoring students through the process of discovering and developing their own unique intellectual and creative strengths continues to drive Tom’s work as a teaching artist.

As a theater director, Tom has staged over 90 productions in California and Utah, and over 60 productions at Golden West College. Favorite directing credits include: The Exorcist, Psycho Beach Party, Inventing Van Gogh, On the Exhale, The Pillowman, Hamlet, Oedipus Rex, 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, 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 Every Brilliant Thing by Duncan Macmillan and Jonny Donahoe, Inspecting Carol by Daniel Sullivan and The Seattle Repertory Theatre, and The Nether by Jennifer Haley, all of which will open during the 2024-2025 GWC Theater Season.

In addition to his work as a professor and director, Tom remains engaged in several ongoing playwriting projects, including adaptations of plays by August Strindberg and Luigi Pirandello, and an original play, Lunger: The Last Days of Doc Holliday.

Away from campus, Tom is an avid traveler, surfer, sailor, and snow skier. He and his wife Nina are also the proud parents of two big, bounding Native American Indian Dogs named Thunder and Stormy.

Tom encourages anyone with an interest in theater to get involved in the growing theater arts program at Golden West College!