Actor/Writer Thom, from Columbus, Takes Center Stage

Q: Where do you live?

I live in Columbus, Ohio these days. I fled California  because I wanted to buy a house but couldn't afford west coast real estate prices. I am single, after all.

Q: Best Solo Escape?

My favorite was a passage to Italy back in the late 1970's where I played tennis on a professional tour. My local escape here in Columbus is Schiller Park in the heart of German Village. It's very much like a small European village and I feel right at home there.

Q: Biggest accomplishment you achieved on your own?

I would have to say that becoming a homeowner and moving across the country is right up there. This gives me a feeling of enormous satisfaction, especially when I'm working on a big project around the house like rebuilding the front and back porches. After he retired from the Navy my father had his own landscaping business and I worked for him part-time. I realize that I got my work ethic from him.

Q: We understand you dabble in the entertainment industry in your spare time. Any exciting projects you would like to tell our readers about?

Well I'm a SAG actor but there's not much work along that line here in Columbus, so I've been pitching a TV series. I'm the Series Creator of this TV pilot which I wrote with the help of two enormously talented co-writers. There are actors now attached and when I get the chance I run it by producers and production companies in New York and Los Angeles.

Q: The best place to meet new people?

The theatre. I met some amazing people and had some of the best times of my life as a stage actor. Nowadays I just go to the park and ingratiate myself with other dog lovers since mine died two years ago.

Q: Funniest, craziest worst date ever?

The worst date I ever had was with a police cadet. She was really into law enforcement and saw everything through the lens of crime and punishment. I took her into San Francisco to see Richard Burton's last performance in a stage production of "Camelot." If she'd made one more reference to police matters that evening I would have driven off a cliff.

Q: You recently wrote an article which addresses "singlism" in the workplace (http://minstrelinthegallery.blogspot.com/.) The statistics were astounding! What recourse, if any, do singles have when it comes to corporate discrimination? How can solos learn how to deal with these injustices?

I think the biggest thing that singles can do is not be afraid of speaking up. We have been unbelievably bludgeoned with the hammer of "family values" for the last 25 years, and when confronted with the obvious favoritism towards traditional families the tendency is to pull back, look around and stay silent. Don't stay silent.

Q: What do you love about being single?
That euphoric feeling of being able to pick up and go anywhere or do anything at will. Calling the shots in the game of life.

Q: Any other words of wisdom?