Welcome to my site!
My name is Tommy, and I’m a New York-based theatre director & experintial storyteller with a BFA in Drama Directing from New York University. I am the Artistic Director of Timber Lake Playhouse and a proud Membr of The Stage Directors and Choreographers Society. Learn more about me HERE. Keep scrolling to see what I’ve been up to lately!
Recent & Upcoming Projects
Timber Lake Playhouse 2025
Tommy just finished his second season as the youngest Artistic Director of an Actor’s Equity Association regional theatre in the United States. Timber Lake Playhouse, founded in 1961, is the oldest continuously operating professional and resident summer theatre company in Illinois. In four months, Tommy produced six Mainstage Productions, two Youth Productions, over a dozen Live Concerts, forty-plus Cabarets and a multi-location Gala Experience. Amongst these projects, Tommy directed Saturday Night Fever and Glü - A New Musical.
Footloose
Tommy made his hometown debut this summer directing Footloose at The John W. Engeman Theater, where the production tore up the stage for nearly two months. What began in his first staging as an exploration of grief and the healing power of movement expanded at the Engeman into a bold vision of how communities use rules and repression to contain pain, and how young people push back through joy, music, and dance. The result became one of the hottest tickets in regional theatre this year, transforming familiar iconography into a layered portrait of resilience and showing how a story born from loss can blossom into an act of collective healing.
Disney’s Newsies
Tommy Ranieri will direct Disney’s Newsies at The Argyle Theatre in Babylon, NY - running January 29 through March 22, 2026. Based on the 1992 Disney film and inspired by the real-life Newsboys Strike of 1899, the production joins The Argyle’s 2025–26 Main Stage season as a high-octane showcase of large-scale ensemble theatre, filled with explosive movement, youthful grit, and the enduring need to fight exploitation. Auditions this fall. Enjoy this silly photoshop of Tommy’s face on the Newsies logo (he wishes he could still kick like that). Purchase tickets HERE.
