Tommy Malek is an award-winning theatre & film professional based out of Columbia, MD who specializes in the crafts of directing, acting, and design (wig & costume). Tommy proudly served as the Artistic Director of both The Maryland Theatre Collective [originally the purple light theatre company] from 2012 to 2024 and Silhouette Stages from 2017 to 2019, and has served as the resident wig designer at Classic Theatre of Maryland in Annapolis since 2021. Recent directing/choreography credits include The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee with Compass Rose Theater (nominated for seven 2025 Helen Hayes Awards including “Outstanding Director of a Musical” and “Outstanding Costume Design”), Spring Awakening, Agnes of God, RENT, and Little Women the Broadway Musical with The Maryland Theatre Collective, 9 to 5 the Musical with Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre, and Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein with Silhouette Stages. Recent/favorite acting credits include "Marvin" in Falsettos and "Tateh" in Ragtime the Musical: In Concert with Maryland Theatre Collective, "Man 3" in Putting It Together with Colonial Players (WATCH Award win for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical), "Emcee" in Cabaret with Silhouette Stages (WATCH Award win for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Musical), and "Benny/Iona" in Del Shores’ Southern Baptist Sissies with Spotlighters Theatre. Currently, Tommy is playing “Mordcha the Innkeeper” (as well as understudying Tevye & Lazar Wolf) in Fiddler on the Roof with The Dutch Apple Dinner Theatre in Lancaster, PA, and after that, will be traveling to Princeton, IL to star as “Edna Turnblad” in Hairspray with Festival 56 this summer!

“Training with the Department of Theatre at UMBC laid an invaluable foundation for my professional life which still carries me through to this day. The program, led by its top-notch faculty and staff, instilled in me a strong sense of self as an artist, an exquisite technique in the craft of acting, and the abilities to explore, research, & keenly refine my work. I had the great fortune to witness and learn from some of the very best directors I’ve worked with to this day, and continue to utilize what they taught me now as a professional director and actor myself. The great Eve Muson’s frequent instruction “don’t pretend to do it—REALLY do it!” proved to be not only terrific guidance in acting, but words to recall and live by in every facet of one’s professional life. I am forever grateful to UMBC’s theatre program for all it has given me, and I will be a proud Retriever for life!”

Jalon Payton currently works as a freelance stage manager mainly based in the Baltimore/DC area. Towards the end of his time as a student at UMBC, he began working as a stage manager for play readings and workshops with Roundhouse Theatre & Taffety Punk Theatre in DC. Following these workshops, he made his debut at Baltimore Center Stage for the first show of their 2021/22 Season, The Swindlers: A Tru-ish Tall Tale, as a Production Assistant. His recent area credits include 10 Seconds (Imagination Stage, Stage Manager), Is Edward Snowden Single? (Single Carrot Theatre, Stage Manager); The Folks at Home (Baltimore Center Stage - world premiere, Production Assistant); Ken Ludwig’s Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery (Everyman Theatre, Assistant Stage Manager), The High Ground (Arena Stage - world premiere, Assistant Stage Manager). Jalon has experience working out of town as an Assistant Stage Manager at American Players Theatre in Spring Green, Wisconsin for 2 summer seasons (The Brothers Size, A Raisin in the Sun, The Royale, and Anton’s Shorts). In Fall 2023, Jalon will be returning to Arena Stage as an Assistant Stage Manager for the east coast premiere of the new musical, Swept Away.

Jalon was able to create a stable foundation out of his passion and drive for stage management at UMBC, thanks in part to his Stage Management Professor at the time: Samantha Paradis.

“My connection with Baltimore Center Stage began because Sam passed them my information for a position in the spring of 2020. While the show I was supposed to work on was postponed, the connection I had established with them was not forgotten. It led to my first PA position, which then opened up a lot of opportunities for me. Recently, Sam was able to visit APT to see The Royale, and it's a great feeling when your mentor gets to witness your professional work. It’s been really good getting to have conversations with Professors Eve Muson, Susan McCully, and Susan Stroupe (to name just a few) about what I’ve been up to since graduating when I periodically visit UMBC.  Watching friends who were my classmates continue to do new and exciting projects post college has been really inspiring to watch from afar.”

You can keep up with Jalon by following him on Instagram, or learn more at his website.