Richard Thomas on His Tony-Nominated Turn in The Balusters and Nearly 70 Years on Stage

When your theatrical resume spans almost 70 years, you can be forgiven a “been there, done that” vibe. The opposite is true of Richard Thomas, who remains as ebullient about his long and fruitful career as any Broadway newcomer. Currently winning laughs as Elliott Emerson, the slyly controlling head of a dysfunctional homeowners association in David Lindsay-Abaire’s The Balusters, he is now a 2026 Tony nominee for Best Featured Actor in a Play.

Thomas’s post-pandemic stage schedule has been packed: He played Atticus Finch for two and a half years in the national tour of To Kill a Mockingbird, co-starred with Katie Holmes (as Mr. and Mrs. Webb) in the 2024 Broadway revival of Our Town, then hit the road again in the title role of Mark Twain Tonight! As he gets set to celebrate his 75th birthday six days after the Tonys, Thomas looked back with fondness on his years as a child actor, analyzed what’s special about The Balusters and urged his fellow actors to embrace the joys of touring.

Congratulations on your Tony nomination. Were you surprised?
Absolutely. I knew that this was a great part—and, of course, people come up to you and say, [he whispers] “You’re going to get a Tony nomination!” But how can you assume something like that? I never would.

You’re in one of the strongest categories [with fellow nominees Christopher Abbott, Danny Burstein, Brandon J. Dirden, Alden Ehrenreich and Ruben Santiago-Hudson].
I’m really excited about that. I worked with Brandon on The Americans, and I’ve known Danny a bit socially. Having been nominated before [in 2017 for The Little Foxes], I can say that we all enter this month of luncheons and get-togethers with a good spirit of camaraderie. Everybody is just happy for everyone else. I also have a Drama Desk nomination, so how many suits am I going to have to buy?

These days, a stylist will gladly fit you with a new tux and an expensive watch.
Yeah, I’m just going to go to the store. [laughs] I don’t want to sound blasé about [the Tony nomination] because I’m completely thrilled and humbled by it. I have an Emmy Award, and I’ve had a wonderful career in front of the camera—I cherish The Waltons and all the shows I’ve done—but there’s something about recognition within the theater community that is especially precious. It’s an intimate community in many ways, so this acknowledgment means a lot to me.

No one can tease you about your age, since three nominees are 80 or older [John Lithgow, André De Shields and Thomas’s Balusters co-star Marylouise Burke], and June Squibb is 96!
I know! I was kind of hoping to be the old man, but no way. Marylouise has been such an inspiration. I’ve loved working with her and being part of this marvelous ensemble of 10 actors.

One of David Lindsay-Abaire’s achievements in The Balusters is writing 10 distinctive roles.
Every character has a strong point of view, a strong personality, and David has written each of their voices so beautifully. Every character gets a moment to express their valid point of view, and every character gets their cover pulled. The author’s absence from any one opinion is one of the things that makes the play so delicious for the audience. They’re not being told who they’re supposed to judge—they have to make up their own minds. So many people who have served on boards [like the play’s HOA] have told me, “I know everybody in that room, and one of them is me!”

It’s fascinating to experience that shift in perspective throughout the play.
That’s one of the great games David plays. Even from the stage, we can feel the audience’s allegiance shifting from character to character as the show goes on. Sometimes they’re happy with what happens to me at the end, and sometimes they aren’t. This kind of 10-instrument chamber piece has a high degree of difficulty in terms of accuracy, in terms of tone, in terms of speed without losing nuance—these are highly complicated things to achieve, and [director] Kenny [Leon] got us there. We had fun because it was a room of 10 people who love watching each other work.

You’ve now worked with Kenny Leon twice. What was it like to be part of his diverse cast in Our Town?
I had a wonderful time. Kenny is a very kind and compassionate guy, but he’s also honest about what he wants. One of the reasons I was so excited was because I didn’t want to be the only American actor who died without ever being in a production of Our Town.

You had never played the Stage Manager [the narrator portrayed by Jim Parsons in Leon’s revival]?
I had never been in the play! The Stage Manager is intuitive casting for me, but I loved playing Mr. Webb. Those parts are all delicious. It’s such a touching play.

You’ve recently toured as Atticus Finch and Mark Twain, but your Tony nominations have been in the featured category, and Our Town and The Balusters are ensemble pieces. Is it fair to say you don’t have a big ego about the size of the roles you accept?
First of all, let’s remember I’m an actor, so the ego goes without saying. [laughs] I like the variety of the work, and I’ve always admired the model of the British actor who’s willing to play Hamlet one night and Guildenstern the next. It depends on what the show is, who the producer is, who the director is, who you’ll be working with. But I’ve got to tell you, I’m kind of a road rat now.

Should we be surprised you’ve spent so much time on tour?
Touring is a very old and special part of the performing arts. My parents were ballet dancers, and they spent half the year touring. Mark Twain is my fourth or fifth tour. I went out with Twelve Angry Men for two seasons, which was a giant success; I went out with The Humans; I did Atticus for two and a half years, and nothing could be better than that. Mockingbird has a particular meaning on a lot of levels—people’s relationship to the book and the movie, then seeing it as a play in Aaron [Sorkin’s] genius adaptation. This whole idea of “Oh, you can’t go on the road, you’ve got to stay in New York”? If the play is right and the cast is right, it’s fantastic.

What do you enjoy about performing in other cities?
One thing that’s so marvelous is that the people who come to see you are not coming as tourists. You’re coming to their hometown, and you’re playing in a theater that they not only support but, in many cases, have saved from destruction. There are so many gorgeous theaters across this country! My stealth mission, aside from the pleasure it gives me to tour, is to get more plays out there. It’s almost all musicals now, but every time a play makes a little money on the road, it’s easier for the next play to go out.

Can you believe you have worked on stage in eight different decades?
Well, if you put it that way, no, I can’t believe it. [laughs] I think my Equity card is 68 years old. My ID number has only four digits.

What do you remember about your Broadway debut at age seven in Sunrise at Campobello?
I played F.D.R.’s son, with the wonderful Ralph Bellamy; Mary Fickett played my mother. James Earl Jones made his Broadway debut in that production, too, in the theater that is now the James Earl Jones Theatre [then the Cort]. When you’re a child actor, most of the time you’re playing someone’s child, and the people playing your parents are very important to you. You look up to them, but also you learn so much at the knees of these professionals. Having a childhood career put me in the laps of some wonderful actors. I started to get in front of the camera right after my first Broadway show, in Hallmark Hall of Fame and soap operas, all live, which was a fantastic training ground because you had to combine the technique of being on camera with the rigor of rehearsal for a live show.

You’re obviously too busy to think about your legacy as an actor.
I have a wonderful life partner [art dealer Georgiana Bischoff], wonderful kids [ranging in age from 30 to 50], and I’ve been doing something I love for my whole life. The theater is a beautiful home, and I’m a very lucky man.

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