Respected opera and theater director Richard D. Thompson has been appointed artistic director of the History Theatre. The arts veteran becomes the fourth leader of the 44-year-old St. Paul-based company, succeeding Ron Peluso, who led the organization for 27 years.
Peluso’s legacy includes ushering in the perennially popular musical “Glensheen.” Thompson, who starts Jan. 10, 2023, said he hopes to build on that legacy.
“I’m elated and very grateful that the board chose me to move the organization forward,” Thompson said Friday. “If I’m doing a Mozart opera or Scot Joplin piece, I look at them all as period pieces. History is essential to telling a complete story and getting to the heart of the human condition.”
Thompson was selected after a national search. Board president John Sebastian lauded him as “a visionary theatre professional, an advocate for inclusivity in the arts, and a respected member of the Minnesota theatre community.”
For his part, Thompson said that he aims “to provide space for even more voices, and by that I don’t mean just telling painful stories. I’m interested in stories of cooperation, resilience, triumph and joy, and in exploring the intertwined fabric of communities that is America.”
A Minneapolis native, Thompson, 65, grew up with such figures as artist Seitu Jones and playwright Kim Hines. He credits his community-involved parents, Jacqui Smith and S. Douglas Thompson, with his interest in service through arts.
“They worked for neighborhood organizations in the ’60s in South Minneapolis and I learned that art is a reflection of society,” Thompson said.
Thompson trained at the Children’s Theater in his youth. He also co-founded a dance troupe in the 1970s, the Uchawi Dancers and Musicians. As a child, Stokely Williams, later of Mint Condition fame, played drums for the troupe.
Thompson was hired as the History Theatre’s producing and directing associate a year ago, but his history with the company goes back 30 years. He directed “The Meeting” in the 1991-’92 season and a slew of other titles since.
Thompson’s extensive credits elsewhere include “The Last Minstrel Show” at Penumbra Theatre, where he worked in the 1980s as managing director and associate producer. He also staged “Les Contes d’Hoffmann (The Tales of Hoffman)” for the Minnesota Opera, a national tour of “Tremonisha,” and has worked at the Kennedy Center, the Virginia Opera and Mixed Blood Theatre, among others.
“We must continue to tell the stories of all of us for all of us,” Thompson said.
