Campbell Thomas

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John Campbell Thomas MNZM (1935 – 22 December 2019) was a New Zealand theatre director, designer and artist. He was based at the Dallas Theater Center in Texas from 1964 to 1984, before returning to New Zealand where he was artistic director at the Fortune Theatre, Dunedin, between 1985 and 1999.

Early life and education[]

Thomas was born in Hamilton, and was educated at Auckland Grammar School. He worked initially as a bacteriologist, dabbling in amateur theatre where he met his actress wife Jacque in an production of The Crucible.^[1]

Work[]

As the artistic director of the Fortune Theatre, Thomas directed and designed over 90 productions between 1985 and 1999. These included world premieres of sundry plays and musicals by Roger Hall: Love Off the Shelf (1986), The Share Club (1987), After the Crash (1988), Mr Punch (1989), Making It Big (1991), By Degrees (1993), Social Climbers (1995), C'mon Black (1995), Dirty Weekends (1997) and The Book Club (1999).^[2]

Later life and death[]

In the 2001 New Year Honours, Thomas was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to theatre.^[3]

In retirement, Thomas lived in North Otago. He engaged in wood sculpture, and the Moray Gallery in Dunedin hosted two exhibitions of his work. His wife, Jacque, died in 2008. Thomas died in Oamaru on 22 December 2019, aged 84.^[4]

References[]