We extend a hearty welcome to the director of our fall show, Jerry McKeen.
Jerry is a retired educator and school administrator who served as teacher and assistant principal first in Octorara and Solanco High Schools in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania and later here in Harrison County at Victory, Liberty, and Roosevelt-Wilson High Schools. He was the principal at South Harrison High School when he retired in 2003.
We’re so glad he’s decided to get back into local theatre after all these years!
As an undergraduate at Fairmont State College, Jerry McKeen appeared in twelve of the fourteen productions presented during his undergrad years. It was working under the direction of theatre professors Lawrence Wallman, Jo Ann Lough, Brad Smoker, Bill Hanks, and Dean George Turley that he developed a life-long love for the stage.
He went on to earn a Masters Degree in Education and Theatre Arts from Penn State University where he worked as a graduate assistant with the Penn State Summer Professional Theatre programs.
His semi-professional experience includes acting with the Gilded Cage Summer Theatre and the Guernsey Barn Theatre in Lancaster County Pennsylvania and directing and acting at the Orleans Tavern in Columbia, PA. In addition he directed many high school productions in Pennsylvania and later, here in Harrison County.
He also directed productions at the old Clarksburg Art Center on Marshall Street. And during five summers in the 1970s, Jerry worked both as a Producer and as a Director with the Harrison County Summer Youth Theatre Program that produced Broadway musicals at the Robinson Grand Theater (now the Rose Garden).
As an educational administrator in Harrison County, he was instrumental in the development of theatre programs that are still active and growing in local high schools.
Recently he taught children’s theatre and directed elementary students in performances for the YMCA After School Program at Nutter Fort.
Says Jerry, “I was honored to be asked to direct for the ACT 2 Theatre Company and was pleased to help select “From Rags to Riches”, a gay-nineties melodrama, as the fall production.”
And we’re honored to have you, Jerry!
Auditions are set for September 5, 6, at 6:30 pm and Saturday September 7 at 10:00 am at the Friedlander Center in Clarksburg or by appointment. Contact Jerry at 304-931-4424.