Michael Adrian Thomas

December 4, 1955 – December 29, 2022

Michael Adrian Thomas departed this life on December 29, 2022 at Meadowview Medical

Center following a short illness.

A native of Maysville, Kentucky, Mike graduated from Maysville High School and attended

Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green where he was a Theatre major and received his

Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies with a concentration in Theatre Arts.

Early experiences with Maysville's community theatre group, The Maysville Players, fostered in

Mike a lifelong passion for theatre making and a career as an actor, producing director,

playwright, and teacher with a special zeal for musical theatre and theatre education for young

people. While in college, Mike first performed professionally during two seasons at Indiana's

Shawnee Theatre and in following years he performed and directed as a company member or

guest artist in many dozens of productions for Lexington Children's Theatre, Lexington

Shakespeare Festival, Studio Players, and Actors' Guild of Lexington and was Artistic Director

for Lexington Musical Theatre.

Between contracts - or "resting" as theatre folk say – Mike freelanced in marketing, as a

commercial copywriter, a reporter for the now-defunct Mason County newspaper The Mirror,

reporter and entertainment editor for The Ledger Independent, and reporter-at-large for The

Cincinnati Enquirer. During these years, Mike began a decades-long practice of mentorship,

individual tutoring, and group workshop instruction in performance skills for youngsters.

In 1994, Mike joined Bowling Green's Public Theatre of Kentucky at the Phoenix Theatre as

Producing Artistic Director for four outstanding seasons of remarkable productions. At PTK he

began his long and fruitful artistic association with actor-director-musician Mark Funk. He then

served from 1999 through 2005 as Director of Museum Theatre for the Kentucky Historical

Society in Frankfort, building this innovative program from the ground up. Honing his

playwrighting skills and employing a lifelong enthusiasm for history and folklore, Mike created

from the vast primary source materials in the KHS archives and collections an imaginative and

highly acclaimed program of performance pieces and events celebrating Kentucky history,

people, and places. In 2005, Mike accepted the position of Administrative Managing Director at

Bowling Green's Capitol Arts Center where he reenergized its regional arts outreach programs

and invigorated CAC's commitment as a presenting organization in visual and performing arts.

Mike was invited in 2007 to return to Maysville as Producing Director of the Maysville Players

and Managing Director of the Washington Opera House where he helmed his hometown theatre

through a 13-season golden age until his retirement in 2020. During their tenure in Maysville,

Mike and longtime partner Mark were married in Manhattan's Central Park in the spring of

2014.

Among many accolades for his theatre work, Mike received the 1996 Bowling Green Area

Chamber of Commerce Outstanding Contribution to the Arts Award and the 2018 Lexington

Shakespeare Festival/SummerFest Lifetime Achievement Award.

Always a champion of compassion and social equality, Mike was a tireless supporter of

individuals in need and many benevolent organizations including Americans for the Arts,

Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and he proudly served twice as chairman of the Maysville

Commission on Human Rights.

Mike was preceded in death by his parents Adrian and Martha Gifford Thomas of Maysville and

brother Jeffrey Glenn Thomas of Louisville. He is survived by his husband Mark H. Funk of

Maysville, sister Sandy Thomas Cummins of Lexington, and nephews Drew Case of Lexington,

Brett Case (and wife Tracy and son Brady) of Versailles, Evan Thomas of Louisville, and David

Thomas of Riverside, California.

Memorial services for Michael Thomas will be held at the Washington Opera House at 1:00 PM

Thursday, January 5, 2023 with Rev. Daniel Mercer officiating. Burial will follow in the Maysville

Cemetery. Visitation will be held at the Washington Opera House on Thursday from 11:00 AM until the

hour of the service. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that expressions of sympathy take the form of

donations to any worthy arts organization. Condolences at knoxbrothersfuneralhome.com