Lon Bumgarner

Lon holds two Master of Fine Arts degrees, one in Theatre Production from Virginia Commonwealth, the other in Film from the University of Southern California as well as graduate credits from the prestigious Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford, England. His film and commercial credits include the direction and production of independent features as well as numerous shorts and over 60 national and international commercials and industrials. His graduate film “Three Pages” was selected as one of the top one hundred films to represent the USC on its 70th anniversary. He is the recipient of many grants and honors including the North Carolina Screenplay Fellowship and since 1984 has directed over 125 plays throughout the country including off Broadway. For eight years he served as Artistic Director of the Charlotte Shakespeare Company (CSC), a non-profit professional theater company and during that tenure was presented one of the original International English Speaking Union’s “Excellence in English Awards” by HRH The Duke of Edinburgh. He has taught in a variety of state universities and private colleges and recently retired after twelve years as a member of the theater faculty at UNC/Charlotte. He is also the founder and principle instructor of the Film Actors’ Studio, which for over twenty years has served as a training ground for over 3500 professional actors.