Teri Lee Thomas

Theatrical Alchemist:

Character actor chameleon,

Keen ability to transform 

Scroll Below Reviews for:  24 Photos / Downloadable Resume / Skills 

Reviews:

Fraulein Schneider: Cabaret (Seattle Gilbert & Sullivan, dir. Phil Lacey)

• “As a contrast to the bawdy and fantastical world and characters in the Kit Kat Club are Fraulein Schneider and Herr Schultz played beautifully by Teri Lee Thomas and Mark Rabe respectively. Their chemistry is magnificent and these two Northwest theater veterans are responsible for some of the most poignant moments in the show.”

— Molly Cassidy, Drama in the Hood

• “Mark Rabe and Teri Lee Thomas’ scenes are heartbreakingly sweet and Thomas’ “What Would You Do?” is the most powerful number of the night.”

— Jay Irwin, Broadway World

• “Fraulein Schneider (Teri Lee Thomas) and her friend Herr Schultz (Mark Rabe) provided a sweetness that eventually tears your heart out. Both actors have extensive acting credits and were a great building block in launching this production.”

— Don Doman, NW Adventures Review

Yente: Fiddler on the Roof (Seattle Musical Theatre, dir. Scot C. Anderson)

• “Teri Lee Thomas was vivid and very amusing as Yente, the matchmaker…This production of Fiddler on the Roof is commendable for the numerous highlights and bright spots in character and performance.”

— Jerry Kraft, Seattle Actor.com

• “Teri Lee Thomas is a vibrant, boisterous Yente the matchmaker.”

— David Edward Hughes, Talkin’ Broadway.com

Josie Hogan: A Moon For the Misbegotten (Theatre Off Jackson, Seattle)

• “What follows is a testament of profound guilt and wasted lives in which Thomas and Marberg were heart-rending…What the actors did with the material was to lay bare the lies, games and shadowy aspects of each character until their tortured souls were exposed. Showing the comically tragic inner workings of this emotional crap game, they captured the raw emotional depths without the rarified intellectual milieu that is found in so many theatre productions.”

— Robert DeGaetano, Seattle Gay News

Mrs. Higgins: My Fair Lady (Village Theatre, dir. Stephen Terrell)

• “My Fair Lady is blessed with the right actors in the right slots, speaking in the right accents…Teri Lee Thomas’s tony Mrs. Higgins meets the occasion.”

— Misha Berson, Seattle Times

Helsa Wensel: The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940 (NW Summer Playhouse, dir. Diane Schenker)

• “There is no doubt that madcap antics by actors lie behind the success of…Murders. Teri Lee Thomas dominates the stage in this production. She plays the unnerving maid Helsa as a coy facist, using her large floppy body lightly to puncuate laugh lines. She radiates disdain even while she flirts. Even as a corpse she’s totally expressive. It’s a hilarious performance.”

—  Carol Stacey, The Spokesman-Review and Spokane Chronicle, WA

• “The maid is killed in a scene that is so perfectly executed that it may leave you crying from laughter. Moments later, however, the dead maid mysteriously reappears and the confusion mounts, along with the bodies. Teri Lee Thomas as Helsa, the maid more interested in flirting than doing any housework, walked off with the show. Her comic timing was flawless and she was equally adept at capturing the subtle humor as well as the more overt. Despite the fact that she wasn’t on stage as often as many of the other characters, her entrances and exits left you wondering ‘What’s she going to do next?'”

— Steve Bray, (name of newspaper lost to posterity), WA

Daisy Bradford: Daisy Bradford 3 (Texas Shakespeare Festival, dir. Kathy Barber)

• “Emphasis is placed on the endearing local characters, who are portrayed with uncondescending care by an energetic cast. As Daisy Bradford, the widow landowner of the lucky oil lease, Teri Lee Thomas is thoroughly believable. She treads softly among Daisy’s many emotions with effective discrimination.”

— Michael Barnes, Austin American-Statesman, TX

• “She is presented as a down-to-earth, God-fearing woman by actress Teri Lee Thomas, who came to Kilgore from Seattle. Ms. Thomas’ widow Bradford resists Columbus Joiner’s wheedling until he finds her weak spot. She was 54 when she met Joiner in 1925, and he knew right from the start that she was no pushover. But he played up to her sense of humor, her civic pride, and her religious convictions, and she was flattered, amused, and even impressed by the harmless old scoundrel.”

— Kent Biffle, The Dallas Morning News (TX)

Lady Bracknell: The Importance of Being Ernest (Texas Shakespeare Festival, dir. Steve Tague)

• “Teri Lee Thomas fairly blusters as Lady Bracknell, with a very British snobbery that withers each character under her scrutiny.”

— Robin Galiano, Longview News-Journal (TX)

Mistress Page: The Merry Wives of Windsor (Texas Shakespeare Festival, dir. Paige Newmark)

• ” Teri Lee Thomas as Page and Colleen Madden as Ford have a delightfully wicked time as the merry wives, gesturing broadly to one another as they keep up the charade when Falstaff is hidden from sight. The two barely contain their laughter as poor Falstaff scrambles once again to hide when Master Ford approaches to search for the scoundrel.”

— Robin Galiano, Longview News-Journal (TX)

Host: The Merry Wives of Windsor (Seattle Shakespeare Company, dir. Rita Giomi)

• “The brilliant shenanigans of Laura Kenny as Mistress Quickly, Dr. Caius’ servant; MJ Sieber as Sir Hugh Evans, the Welsh minister; Matt Orme as Doctor Caius, the French village physician and Teri Lee Thomas as the Host of the Garter Inn where Falstaff resides, make the comic sub-plot totally hysterical. Thomas is great as the good natured, prank-pulling host. While she doesn’t get the chance to exhibit the range of some of the other parts, you always look forward to seeing her on stage.”

— Shakespeare.com/reviews

Ruth: The Pirates of Penzance (Village Theatre, dir. Stephen Terrell. Also NW Summer Playhouse, dir. Jeff Caldwell)

• “Teri Lee Thomas has a wonderful supporting role as Ruth, the pirate’s maid-of-all-work. She’s a terrific comic actress who simpers hilariously as she tries to snare the much younger Frederic.”

— Jim Kershner, The Spokesman-Review and Spokane Chronicle, WA

• “But one in a string of this show’s many highlights is Teri Lee Thomas as Ruth, a Pirate Maid. Thomas as Ruth is rough and tumble, rude, crude, a ship’s mate to murders and thieves. She is the only woman Frederick has ever seen when he reaches age twenty-one. Picture a wide-eyed youth in blushing prime, not much more than a boy, asking a crusty, lusty weight-lifter-of-a-woman whether she is representative of the female gender. The question is made to order for Thomas’ comic talent. She is absolutely hilarious in the way she would pass herself off as the daintiest flower of demure maidenhood, like an elephant trying to be a gazelle. The audience broke up.”

— Dale Burrows, Special to the Enterprise (Everett, WA)

Lucy: You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown (Seattle Musical Theatre, dir. Tyrone Brown)

• “As Charlie Brown’s foil is Teri Lee Thomas as Lucy van Pelt. Thomas has clearly done her homework. Her Lucy seems to have leapt directly from the pages of the comic strip. She has a presence tailor-made to play a cartoon character and she does it with gusto.”

— Molly Cassidy, Drama in the Hood

Doatsey Mae: The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (Evergreen Theatre Company, dir. Stephen Terrell)

• “Teri Lee Thomas has a nice, heart-felt solo as Doatsey Mae the respectable waitress.”

— Karen Mathieson, The Seattle Times

Fraulein Rottenmeier: Heidi (Village Theatre, dir. Rita Giomi)

• “The most vivid presence in the show is the imperious Fraulein Rottenmeier, whom Teri Lee Thomas consistently plays much to the audience’s amusement.”

— Wayne Johnson, The Seattle Times

• “The real treat of the show is the performance of Teri Lee Thomas as Fraulein Rottenmeier, the overbearing governess of the Seissman household, who abhors the sprightly Heidi as much as the rest of the household adores her. Thomas plays the fraulein as a broad parody of Victorian restraint, making her scenes among the most enjoyable in the play.”

— T.M. Sell, RAVE! Play Reviewer, WA

• “Teri Lee Thomas is enormously funny as Fraulein Rottenmeier, a tower of Victorian propriety.”

— Sue Lockett John, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Lenny: Crimes of the Heart (Village Theatre, dir. Rita Giomi)

• “The Village Theatre’s cast is a crack-up. Teri Lee Thomas weeps and whoops winningly as big sister Lenny (and I do mean big; she’s a cuddly Amazon of a woman).”

— Tim Appelo, The Seattle Times

• “Each of these exceptionally fine actresses has drawn a distinct character; Teri Lee Thomas as Lenny, the oldest and every family’s resident nurse…is breathless and on the verge of hysteria…Director Rita Giomi has given the revelatory moments strong focus by slowing their pace and softening their tone.”

— Freddie Brinster, Journal-American (Bellevue, WA)

Ruby: Getting Out (Pocket Playhouse, dir. John Rindo, Eugene, OR)

• “Teri Lee Thomas as the ex-con upstairs is the one who captures the audience. Her humor is our relief and release (as it is for Arlene), yet she does not betray us by making trite the profound or losing the weight of her soul.”

— Donna Reese, Willamette Valley Observer, OR

Katarina of Aragon: Royal Gambit (dir. David Wheeler, Eugene OR)

• “Henry VIII shares the stage with the six women who play his wives. Each is wonderfully cast. Teri Lee Thomas is marvelous as Katarina of Aragon, who is present throughout the play. She is a tall, commanding woman, who still possesses an almost housewifey quality. Her face is at once evidence of her strong emotions and yet a mask. It is she alone who truly understands Henry.”

— Jonathan Siegle, The Emerald (OR)

Mrs. Harcastle: She Stoops to Conquer (dir. Chuck Ruff, Eugene, OR)

• “The real treat was the absolutely outstanding performances by Chris Dolman as Tony Lumpkin, the doltish, spoiled little snit and Teri Lee Thomas as his mother, Mrs. Hardcastle. Both demonstrated ample comic talent. Thomas has tremendous recharging energy. As the gaudy, overbearing Mom, she was able to maintain dignity with such great poise that the audacity of her presence was completely entertaining.”

— Donna Reese, Willamette Valley Observer, OR

April Green: The Hot L Baltimore (Oregon Repertory Theatre, dir. David Lunney, Eugene OR)

• “Among Lewis’ flock is a tall tree of a woman flamboyantly named April Green. Teri Lee Thomas is hilarious as she gives April a sloppy, foul-mouthed, whore-with-a-heart-of-gold quality. By the time she is finished she has stolen the show. Her honking howls of laughter alone are worth the price of admission.”

— Fred Crafts, Eugene Register-Guard, OR

• “Teri Lee Thomas as April Green gives a most accomplished performance as she hollers and sneers her way through the role. She laces her lines with a furious wit; her laughter, rising from the depths of a basso profundo makes her character electrically alive and a pleasure to watch.”

— Kathleen Silvassy, Willamette Valley Observer, OR

• “Playing counterpart to The Girl’s carefree manner, April Green, another prostitute, makes bawdy, biting comments. Teri Lee Thomas, carrying herself like a football linebacker, revels in her role as April.”

— Linda Salser, The Emerald, OR

Candida: Candida  (Title role, dir. Horace Robinson, Eugene, OR)

• “As Candida, Teri Lee Thomas carries the bemused, knowing and maternal air of a wise woman who understands perfectly the turnoil besetting her husband and teenage suitor. Her long final-act speech, in which she reveals her choice and asserts her worth as a person, is delivered with a nice mixture of tenderness and irony.”

— Don Bishoff, Eugene Register-Guard, OR

• “​In the role of Candida, Teri Lee Thomas is warm and likeable. Her seduction of Marchbanks is not seen as cruel, but rather as an unavoidable step in his own development, a contribution to the young poet’s understanding of himself. And when she toys with her husband’s insecurities, it is only her way of reaching him quickly and reassessing his need for her.”

— Matthew Cranor, Willamette Valley Observer, OR

• “Candida is the ideal female, as seen by George Bernard Shaw, and yet her attributes can make her seem pretty inhuman if they are not shown to belong to a solid, loving woman. Director Horace Robinson, working with Teri Lee Thomas, has made Candida warm and amused, and less dominant than some directors might wish her to be. But she is sure of herself, and of her worth to others…In the final scene, Candida is put up for auction, as it were, and she bestows herself upon the man who needs her the most.”

— Karen M. DuPriest, Willamette Valley Observer, OR

Miss Tweed: Something’s Afoot (Oregon Cabaret Theatre, dir. Jon Kretzu, Ashland, OR)

• “Murder should be such fun! And in Something’s Afoot, a musical whodunit now at Oregon Cabaret Theatre, it sure is. Teri Lee Thomas, in her OCT debut, plays Miss Tweed, the amateur detective, with verve and vigor, tweedily attired, a dabbler in daub and detection.”

— Robert H. Miller, Ashland Daily Tidings, OR

• “Led by the robust and consummately optimistic Miss Tweed, the 11-member cast puts on a rousing show. The level of talent is top-drawer, and no one misses a beat. The songs, belted to the rafters, with each and every voice strong and right on target. Ensemble choreography, especially anything involving Miss Tweed, is a treat. Teri Lee Thomas brings a long list of credits to the indomitable Miss Tweed. She puts charm and vigor into her sturdy role, and courageously promenades about the stage in the only plaid formal evening gown one ever hopes to see.”

— Liz Redler, The Sneak Preview, Medford/Ashland OR