J.R. HALL received his B.A. in Speech Communications from the University of Pittsburgh and his M.F.A. in Playwriting from Carnegie Mellon University.
He is currently on the faculty of the Community College of Allegheny County, where he teaches Communications, Theatre, and Film, and the University of Pittsburgh, where he teaches Communications. He recently retired from the Act One Theatre School in Pittsburgh’s North Hills, where he served as the director of their high school program.
As a company member of the Western Stage of Salinas, CA he was commissioned to adapt John Steinbeck’s Cannery Row for the National Steinbeck Festival’s 50th Anniversary celebration of that novel’s publication.
Most recently he completed a commission from Beacon College, the first accredited institution of higher learning designed to serve students with learning disabilities, for the book of a musical entitled Normal-C. A story about three special needs teenagers who face the dilemma of whether they should give up all that they are for a chance to be ‘normal.’
He lives with his wife Tawnya, and their teenage triplets, Katie, Sophie and Henry.