Grant McGowen

Grant McGowen is a Founder and Producing Artistic Director of Pinch 'N' Ouch Theatre. He is an Award-Winning Director, Actor, Playwright, Teacher, Cinematographer, and Producer.

His producing credits include films: Girls Life, Let's Make It, Alone, Circuit, No Such Thing, The Voyeur, Heavy Water, Deadbeat, No Soliciting, Margo and the Universe, and The Mother Load; Theatre: Glengarry Glen Ross, Girls Life, Gideon's Knot, The Aliens, Pizza Man, Water By The Spoonful, The Shape Of Things, Reasons To Be Pretty, Lobby Hero, Tape, Body Awareness, Bachelorette, Sex With the Censor, Beauty Runs on Light Feet, Baby Steps, Struggle Session, Some Girl(s), Assistance, Let's Make It, Wall Street Wedding, Scratching, and Speed the Plow.

Acting credits include theatre: The Way We Get By, Glengarry Glen Ross, The Aliens, Wall Street Wedding, Assistance, Some Girl(s), Tape, Autobahn, Reasons to Be Pretty, Three's a Crowd, Strange Snow, The Glass Menagerie, Hamlet, The Shape of Things, La Ronde, Oklahoma, Beauty and the Beast, and Footloose; Film: Let's Make It, The Stain, Moving On, No Soliciting, Finley; TV: Being Mary Jane, Margo and the Universe, Drop Dead Diva, Single Ladies, Killer Couples, Brohan, and several TV commercials.

Directing credits include films: Absent Minded, The Meaningful Life of Art & Henry, No Such Thing, Halloween: The Shape Stalks, The Voyeur, Deadbeat, Boys Life, The Decision; TV: The Mother Load, Margo and the Universe, McCullom; Theatre: Glengarry Glen Ross, Girls Life, Water By The Spoonful, Pizza Man, One Minute Play Festival, Lobby Hero, Bachelorette, Autobahn, Speed the Plow, Sex With the Censor, Baby Steps, Struggle Session, Beauty Runs on Light Feet, and Let's Make It.

Playwriting credits: Wall Street Wedding ("Best World Premiere of 2014" by Arts Atl), Let's Make It ("Best Productions of 2013" by Arts Atl), and Girls Life, PNO's highest grossing production. Screenwriting: Absent Minded, Let's Make It, Deadbeat, Margo and the Universe, and McCollum. Grant's plays challenge audiences with important contemporary issues such as social equity, equality, self-image, LGBT+, censorship and stigma.

Grant was recently featured in Atlantan Magazine's "Most Important People to Watch on Atlanta's Arts Scene." He won "Best Actor" in the 72 Hour Film Festival for his performance in The Stain. He won "Best Actor" in Philadelphia's Project 21 Film Festival for his performance in Moving On, also nominated for "Best Film." His play Wall Street Wedding was named "Best World Premiere" by Arts Atl and was nominated for the 2014 Gene-Gabriel Moore Playwriting Award. His play, Let's Make It, was acclaimed by Arts Atl as one of the "Best Productions of 2013." The feature film "No Soliciting," which he starred in and Produced, won "Best Film" at the Atlanta Underground Film Festival. It also won "Best Acting Ensemble" and "Best Fiction Film" at the Gwinnett Film Festival. in 2017, he was nominated "Best Director" and "Best Cinematographer" by the 48 Hour Film Project in Atlanta.

Press: "Teaching artist Grant McGowen and the hardest working man in the theatre business conducts courses into the finer points of acting..." (The Backstage Beat). "Director Grant McGowen has gotten fine, sharp performances from all his actors, in every play. As an observer of the Atlanta theatre scene for quite awhile now, I must say that I'm excited by what Mr. McGowen and Pinch 'N' Ouch are offering to Atlanta. It appears that more and more of the city's finest actors want to work with him. Live theatre needs a sense of being on the edge, unafraid of new ideas, new plays, new actors. I think Mr. McGowen is the real deal, and I hope he sticks around." (Atlanta InTown Paper). "Grant McGowen is quickly becoming a voice of his generation." (Pure Politics). "Grant McGowen can really make a career in comedy if he wanted to" (Punchline Magazine). "...raw, daring... McGowen's gutsy actors give naturalistic, powerhouse performances... that seems all too real... If you go for bold and 'now' theater with a hard edge, this [theatre] is well worth checking out. Ultimately, Grant McGowen deserves strong credit, because his director's hand is never obvious." (East Atlanta Patch).

Grant is a graduate of the New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts where he studied Acting. He received his undergrad at Wagner College in Theatre Performance. In NYC, he performed stand up at the Comedy Cellar, improv at Upright Citizens Brigade, worked as an Assistant Theatrical Agent for the Artists Group East, and an Assistant Casting Director for Stark Naked Productions.

Now in Atlanta, Grant works professionally as a freelance Actor, Cinematographer, Photographer, and Videographer. He also teaches the Meisner Acting Classes at Pinch 'N' Ouch Theatre.