Thomas Underdal is an interdisciplinary theatre maker, educator, and scholar. His work as a theatre maker spans the roles of director, writer, dramaturg, and designer spending most of his time writing and teaching. His writing practice centers on ecological realities, queer narratives, and dramaturgies of joy, imagination, and wonder. As a writer, his work lives in the worlds of poetry, eco-writing, magical realism, and modern fantasy. Thomas is an MFA Theatre for Youth and Community student at Arizona State University. He is also the Director of Education with TheaterWorks and the Play Works Coordinator for AZ Thespians. Some of his recent work includes developing an Earth Day Celebration featuring the premiere of two of his new ecological theatre for youth plays, The Isle of Beasts and The Girl and the Mountain, and a multimedia piece, Eco-Fables, and other tales of the forest. Other recent plays include Kingdom (ASU TheatreLab), The Plays that Goes Boom! Pow! (Childsplay Theatre Academy Commission) and a theatre for the very young play, Fox Needs a Nap (Arts on the Horizon 2022 Finalist).

I think I have always been ecologically aware but my return to graduate school reignited my passion around the ecological world and how my work as a theatre maker and educator engages with it.