Derek Lively
Derek Lively is an actor, playwright and screenwriter. Since relocating to Fort Myers from New York City in 2015, Lively has starred as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Katori Hall’s Mountaintop, Frederick Douglass in The Agitators, Walter Lee Younger in Theatre Conspiracy at the Alliance’s production of Lorraine Hanberry’s A Raisin in the Sun, Canewell in August Wilson’s Seven Guitars and King in King Hedley II both for Theatre Conspiracy at the Alliance for the Arts. Most recently, Lively wrote and 
starred in The Last Show. Directed by Producing Artistic Director Bill Taylor, The Last Show enjoyed its world premiere at Theatre Conspiracy at the Alliance for the Arts in February of 2023.
A member in good standing in both the Actor’s Equity Association and SAG-AFTRA, Lively will next play the part of sibling Boy Willie in The Piano Lesson, which is the fifth of playwright August Wilson’s ten Century Cycle plays to be produced by Theatre Conspiracy at the Alliance for 
the Arts.
Before he and his wife moved to Southwest Florida, Lively enjoyed a 20-year theatrical career Manhattan, appearing in more than 40 regional and Off-Broadway productions before stepping away from acting to focus on play and screenwriting. His play, Two Realities, was the co-winner of the Around the Block 2006 Short Play Reading Series and was a semi-finalist in the American Globe Theatre’s Fifteen Minute Play Festival. His screenplay, The Nigga, was the winner of the 2008 Hollywood Black Film Festival Storyteller Competition and was subsequently 
optioned by Harrison Reiner, production executive for the Academy Award-winning films My Left Foot and Cinema Paradiso. He was also invited to participate in the HBO Writers’ Lab sponsored by the American Black Film Festival.
Lively is also a theater instructor and has served in that capacity in the Alliance for the Arts’ CHANGE (Communities Harnessing the Arts to Nurture and Grow Equity) program, which engages aspiring adult minority actors in theatre education, provides performance opportunities, and a platform to convene dialogue on social
issues that challenge our community through creative, artistic expression.
January 1, 2019; revised April 10, 2023.
About the Author
Tom Hall is both an amateur artist and aspiring novelist who writes art quest thrillers. He is in the final stages of completing his debut novel titled "Art Detective," a story that fictionalizes the discovery of the fabled billion-dollar Impressionist collection of Parisian art dealer Josse Bernheim-Jeune, thought by many to have perished during World War II when the collection's hiding place, Castle de Rastignac in southern France, was destroyed by the Wehrmacht in reprisal for attacks made by members of the Resistance operating in the area. A former tax attorney, Tom holds a bachelor's degree as well as both a juris doctorate and masters of laws in taxation from the University of Florida. Tom lives in Estero, Florida with his fiancee, Connie, and their four cats.