“I believe that sometimes the best education is learning outside of the box...you never know what’s out there.”  - Tom Sweitzer

Titles: Performing Arts Consultant; Community Service Support   
Department: Performing Arts

Instructional Support: 
Glee
Troubadours
Drama
Spring Musical
 
Academic Degrees: 
BFA, MA Shenandoah University

To contact:  tsweitzer@middleburgacademy.org

Though Tom Sweitzer is new to the Middleburg Academy faculty this year, he is already well known for his many creative and teaching contributions in the region.  Mr. Sweitzer has spent his entire career working with young people as a voice coach, drama coach, director, teacher, and mentor.  He recently graduated with a master's certificate in music therapy from Shenandoah University, and is Artistic Director of VSA arts of Loudoun.

After graduating with a BFA in Music Theatre from Shenandoah University in 1994, Tom Sweitzer spent fifteen years heading the theatre department and teaching music at The Hill School in Middleburg, VA. He was Artistic Director of The Hill Playhouse and its many professional productions, and was co-founder and co-director of The Creative Youth Theatre Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to working with teens in the arts while also raising scholarship money. He has collaborated with Loudoun Youth Initiative, creating teen productions on bullying and other teenage struggles.

Mr. Sweitzer has written several original musicals, most recently Tootleloo, a musical that tours to raise funds for hospice care, and Giggles, a children’s show that played at The Smithsonian Discovery Theater in Washington, D.C. in the summer of 2010. Tom Sweitzer and two of his students were subsequently invited to the White House to join the President and First Lady in the 20th anniversary celebration of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Tom Sweitzer believes that teachers must practice what they preach and he performs whenever he can find the time.  In the 2010 Shenandoah Summer Music Theater season, he played Horton the Elephant in Seussical the Musical, and the role of Leo Boom in The Producers. Tom enjoys writing original songs with his students and often shares the talents of those he mentors with the larger community, reinforcing the idea that creations are to be shared. He is thrilled to see his dream of a safe and creative haven for those that need it come to life at Middleburg’s A Place to Be, a Center for Music Therapy and Life Coaching.