Thomas Edward Pearson Jr. (born March 31, 1974) is an American poet, choreographer, director and artist.

His books of poetry include The Sandpiper's Spell and Still, the Sky. As a founder and co-artistic director of the New York City-based performance company Third Rail Projects, he co-created the long-running immersive theater productions Then She Fell and The Grand Paradise among over 50 theatrical, dance, and site-specific works. Through Third Rail Projects, he established and serves as director of the Global Performance Studio.

With Third Rail Projects, he has received two Bessie Awards, a Time Out Love New York Award, and a Drama Desk Awards Nomination.

Pearson has received fellowship awards including two CEC ArtsLink Back Apartment Residencies (St. Petersburg, Russia), a Theater Fellowship from the Bogliasco Foundation (Genoa, Italy), an artist residency with The Emily Harvey Foundation (Venice, Italy), a Creative Campus Fellowship at Wesleyan University, and a creative teaching residency at Olin College of Engineering.

Life and career

Early life and education

Pearson was born in St. Augustine, Florida in 1974. He studied dance, choreography, acting and music at the Florida School of Arts at St. Johns River State College, graduating in 1994. He temporarily relocated to New York to study at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center in summer 1994. From late 1994 to early 1998, he studied dance, theater and literature at Florida State University where he holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance and Bachelor of Arts in Literature and where he later taught as an adjunct faculty in the School of Dance.

Pearson permanently moved to New York in 1999 and received a Master of Arts in Performance Studies from New York University. He was a resident of Brooklyn for over 20 years, where he was named among the "100 most influential people in Brooklyn culture" in 2016 by Brooklyn Magazine.

Writing In 2019, Pearson published his first book of poetry The Sandpiper's Spell. Kirkus Reviews chose it among the Best Indie Books of 2019 and called it a "masterfully observant debut poetry collection... both vastly panoramic and deeply introspective." It was an editor's pick in BookLife by Publishers Weekly, which noted the "vibrant, lyrical imagery of Pearson’s nature-influenced verses."

For his second book, Still, the Sky, Pearson combined poetry and multimedia art to create a "speculative mythology" that entwined the stories of Icarus and the Minotaur as a shared coming-of-age story "filled with rich description and striking imagery". A bilingual edition with Italian translation by Andrea Sirotti, Eppure, il cielo was published in 2023 by Interno Poesia Editore.

His individual poems have appeared in The Arlington Literary Journal, 3Elements Literary Review, Alocasia, and Poetry Quarterly, among others. In 2009, he served as editor of The Public Theater's Native Theater Journal and contributed interviews with Native American playwrights and musicians to NYU's Hemispheric Institute. His essays on dance and performance have also appeared in Dance Magazine.

Performance Pearson is a co-founder and co-artistic director of the New York City-based performance company Third Rail Projects with Zach Morris and Jennine Willett. The company creates site-specific, immersive, and experiential performances among a range of multi-media artistic works. Their award-winning immersive show Then She Fell ran for over 4,000 performances and was named one of the “Top Ten Shows of 2012” by The New York Times and one of the "best theater experiences" of 2013 by Vogue. Other works include As Time Goes By in Saint Petersburg, Ikaros with La Jolla Playhouse’s Without Walls (WOW) Festival, and The Grand Paradise, which ran for 11 months in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Third Rail Projects has received two Bessie Awards, a Chita Rivera Award for Choreography, and a Drama Desk Award Nomination for Unique Theatrical Experience. The company was recognized as part of the creative team of the Emmy and Peabody Award-winning virtual reality adaptation of The Wolves in the Walls and as contributors and featured artists in the Emmy Award-winning "IMMERSIVE.WORLD" series on WNET Group's ALL ARTS.

In 2023, Pearson collaborated on Berette S Macaulay's multi-site work UN-[TITLED], presented by On the Boards at Wa Na Wari and Inscape Arts to examine the effects of gentrification, displacement and cultural memory in Seattle's Central District and Chinatown-International District.

Global Performance Studio

Pearson formed and serves as director of the Global Performance Studio to co-create work through international collaborations and share the site-specific and experiential performances practices of Third Rail Projects. The Global Performance Studio "cultivates opportunities to foster diplomacy through shared practice, dialogue, and community building, all within a framework of cultural listening and peer-to-peer artist exchange." To-date the studio has worked with artists in Hong Kong, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Germany, Italy, Russia and the U.S.

Books Pearson has published two original poetry collections and one translated volume. Pearson, Tom (2023). Eppure, il cielo. Traslated by Andrea Sirotti. Latiano, Italy: Interno Poesia Editore. . Pearson, Tom (2022). Still, the Sky. New York, NY: Ransom Poet Publishers. . Pearson, Tom (2018). The Sandpiper's Spell. New York, NY: Ransom Poet Publishers. .

Awards and accolades

2021 – National Performance Network (NPN) "Creation and Development Fund Award" for UN-[TITLED]. 2019 – Kirkus Reviews "Best Indie Books of 2019" for The Sandpiper's Spell. 2016 – Time Out New York "Time Out LOVE New York Award" for The Grand Paradise. 2013 – Vogue "Best of Theater 2013" for Then She Fell. 2013 – New York Dance and Performance (Bessie) Awards "Outstanding Production" for Then She Fell. 2012 – The New York Times "Ben Brantley's Top Shows of 2012" for Then She Fell. 2008 – New York Dance and Performance (Bessie) Awards "Choreographer/Creator Award" for Vanishing Point.

References

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