Broadway show director from Central Virginia is a Tony nominee

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) -- A Broadway show director with Central Virginia roots is nominated for a Tony Award. 

Sam Pinkleton grew up in the Tri-Cities and is not shy about saying he owes the "804" for the foundations of his success.

"I’m from Hopewell, like, I am from Hopewell," Pinkleton told 8News Anchor Eric Philips.  "I don’t know if you’ve been to Hopewell, but the life that I have now is not the life that I expected to have growing up, and I don’t take that for granted."

Pinkleton is nominated for "Best Director" for directing the hit comedy "Oh Mary!"

(Photo Courtesy: Jenny Anderson)

"This is my first time directing a play on Broadway," Pinkleton said. "I’ve choreographed quite a lot on Broadway, but this is my first time as a director so it’s quite an honor to be nominated on my first go."

The play, written by Cole Escola, is a historically inaccurate story about Mary Todd Lincoln in the days leading up to her husband, President Abraham Lincoln's, assassination.

"In the play, Mary Todd Lincoln is an alcoholic aspiring cabaret singer who will do whatever it takes to reach her dreams of becoming a cabaret star," Pinkleton said. 

It premiered off Broadway in January 2024, skyrocketed in popularity, and was on Broadway six months later. It's now nominated for five Tonys, including best play and best director.

"I've been doing this for a long time and what’s happened with this play is not normal," Pinkleton said. "It’s exciting, but it’s not normal."

(Photo Courtesy: Jenny Anderson)

For Pinkleton, the groundwork for success was laid here in Central Virginia.

"I have the 804 to thank for that one," he said.

He added that from a very young age, his grandmother exposed him to theater.

"She would take me to Swift Creek Mill Playhouse; she would take me to the Lee playhouse at Ft. lee, she would take me to national tours," Pinkleton said.

(Photo Courtesy: Jenny Anderson)

His mother, who still lives in metro Richmond, said she believed he was destined for greatness from childhood.

"He was always a very driven person," said his mother, Kimberly Calos.  "I knew he was either going to be a priest or an actor."

She pushed for him to go to Appomattox Regional Governor's School for high school, though he was reluctant at first.

"And I just said one year, and that was the end of my helicoptering," Calos said.  "I said try it, try it."

"And in my first week at ARGS, I walked into the auditorium and I saw play practice happening and I'd never seen anything like it and I said that’s what I want to do," Pinkleton said.

"But I didn't know that the thing that I now do as a job, that I just got nominated for a Tony Award for, I didn’t know that was possible."

He wants those who aspire to do theater at the highest level to know it is possible and to follow their heart.

"I was a nervous scared gay kid who didn’t really feel like I could be myself," Pinkleton said.

(Photo Courtesy: Jenny Anderson)

"Now, I'm almost 40 years old and I've never felt more like myself," he said. "And that’s because of stuff that I learned in Petersburg, not stuff that I learned on Broadway."

The Tony Awards air this coming Sunday. This is the second time Pinkleton has been nominated for a Tony; the first time was about eight years ago for his choreography in the show "Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812."

He'll next be directing the "Rocky Horror Show" on Broadway at Studio 54.