Jerry McGonigle

Professor, Acting and Directing

Artistic Director, West Virginia Public Theatre

MFA – American Conservatory Theatre
BA – University of Dallas

Jerry McGonigle came to WVU in 1990 from Orange County, CA, where he designed, founded and ran The Professional Actors Conservatory at Rancho Santiago College. Jerry has both acted and directed nationally and internationally at such theatres as E.T.A. Hoffman Theatre (Bamberg, Germany), M.T. Pockets Theatre Co./100 Monkeys (Edinburgh Fringe Festival), West Virginia Public Theatre, Contemporary American Theatre Festival, Pac Theatre Co., Missouri Repertory Theatre, American Conservatory Theatre, and the Missouri Shakespeare Festival. Jerry was awarded the Mabel DeVries Tanner Endowed Professorship in 2003 and was reappointed to this position in 2006. He has twice received the Outstanding Research and Creative Activity award in the WVU School of Theatre and Dance.

Over the past twelve years, Jerry has acted or directed in seven independent films. He recently directed two films entitled The Man Who Stole the Moon, and Welcome to the Party. In 1998, Jerry directed Getting Over Arnette, a short film for public television which won a first place award in the category of Performance at the National Educational Television awards. He holds a BA from the University of Dallas and an MFA in acting from The American Conservatory Theatre of San Francisco. McGonigle’s WVU directing credits include Killing Game, Hot L Baltimore, Cloud Nine, Three Sisters, King Lear, A Lie of the Mind, All My Sons, Arcadia, Macbeth, Dangerous Corner, It’s a Wonderful Life, The Ghost Sonata, The Time of your Life, Oleanna, The Winter’s Tale, and Measure For Measure.