WVU Division of Theatre and Dance

Dr. Jay Malarcher
Associate Professor of Theatre
Division Dramaturg
Coordinator of the BA Program
BA - Loyola University;

MA - St. John's College;

Ph.D. - Louisiana State University

Dr. Malarcher's professional experience includes teaching at Muhlenberg College, the University of Southwestern Louisiana and Louisiana State University, as well as serving as dramaturg with the Dog & Pony Theatre Company, Swine Palace Productions, the McCarter Theatre, the King William Players and Playmakers Professional Children's Theatre. He is currently editor of the Southeastern Theatre Conference�fs Theatre Symposium journal and coordinates its annual event.

As a playwright, he has had original plays produced at Southern Rep, Village Gate, the Contemporary Arts Center, and Positive Space Gallery. He has performed with the Summer Music Theatre at Muhlenberg, Tulane Summer Lyric Theatre, and the Dog & Pony Theatre Company, among others. In 2001, he appeared in the 100 Monkeys production of Four Dogs and a Bone at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. At WVU, he has performed the role of Franklin in It's a Wonderful Life and recently he performed the title role in Frank Gagliano's Father Uxbridge Wants to Marry to open the 2003�|2004 season. Glimpses of him may be seen in the films JFK (Oliver Stone) and Angel Heart (Alan Parker).

Professionally, Malarcher has directed extensively in Louisiana and everywhere he has taught. He directed the Spring 2000 production of Angels in America: Millennium Approaches and the Fall 2000 production of Dancing at Lughnasa. For the 2001-02 season, Dr. Malarcher adapted It's A Wonderful Life as the holiday offering, and he directed The Idiots Karamazov as the last show of the season. More recently, he directed Steve Martin's Picasso at the Lapin Agile, and The Philadelphia Story.

His book The Classically American Comedy of Larry Gelbart has been published by The Scarecrow Press. He is currently working on a book of comedy theory, tentatively titled The Situation of Comedy, and a book on the �gverbal semiotics�h of theatre.

The Idiots Karamazov