Lon Bumgarner has been a producer, director, and teacher of film and theatre for over 28 years. He holds two Master of Fine Arts degrees; one in Theatre from Virginia Commonwealth University and one in Film from the University of Southern California as well as graduate hours from the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in Stratford, England. He has directed over 100 plays professionally (including The Laramie Project, Take Me Out, King Lear, The Three Sisters, and Much Ado about Nothing).  Between 1984-1991 he served as Artistic Director of the Charlotte Shakespeare Company, a professional theatre which he also founded. In 1990, the Company's production of The Merchant of Venice (directed by Lon) was featured in Charleston South Carolina's Spoleto Festival. That same year he was awarded one of the first Excellence in English Awards by the International English Speaking Union which was presented to him in New York by HRH Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinbourgh.  He has directed and produced features, shorts, as well as over 50 national and international commercials and served on the faculties of four Universities. He presently holds the post of Lecturer at UNC/Charlotte. In 1999 he was awarded the North Carolina Screenplay Fellowship Award.

Between 1997-2002, Lon served as arts critic and theatre writer for The Leader Newspaper. From 2003-2006 he served as film reviewer for Charlotte Arts Magazine. In the summer of 2007 he will team teach a Shakespeare in Performance graduate workshop in London as well as cities and towns throughout Britain. View Lon's Resume