Before coming to Winthrop in 2010, Dr. Wohl served as Dean of the College of Arts and Humanities and Professor of Communications and Media Studies at West Virginia State University in Institute, WV for over 25 years. He was the Artistic Director and co-founder of the Charleston Stage Company in Charleston, WV and held the position of General Manager of the Porthouse Repertory Theatre in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. He has published articles and reviews in such publications as Theatre Journal, Southern Theatre, and Journal of the Association for Communication Administration. He has directed over 100 theatre productions, including Jane Eyre, Romeo and Juliet, The Winter's Tale, True West, On Golden Pond, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Much Ado about Nothing, Hamlet, A Raisin in the Sun, Proof, Art, The Royal Hunt of the Sun, To Be Young Gifted, and Black, and The Rocky Horror Show.
Between 1975 and 2010, Dr. Wohl was one of the leaders in West Virginia's arts community. He served on the West Virginia Arts Commission's Peer Assistance Network since its inception in 1990 and has conducted numerous workshops on grant writing, strategic planning, board development and marketing for over thirty non-profit organizations throughout West Virginia. He served seven years as President of Arts Advocacy of West Virginia and for three years coordinated "Arts Day" at the WV Legislature. He was instrumental in lobbying the WV legislature for the creation of the Cultural Resources and Capitol Improvement grant fund, which has given over $15 million to arts organizations throughout West Virginia.
In 1998, Dr. Wohl served a term as President of the Southeastern Theatre Conference (SETC), the largest regional theatre association in the country. He has served for over a decade as Finance Committee Chair for SETC and helps oversee its annual budget of over $1 million.
Dr. Wohl has served on numerous boards of directors, including the Kanawha Players, the West Virginia Theatre Conference, the Southeast Theatre Conference and the Paradise Film Institute. He served as Chairman of the Board of Directors for Festiv-ALL Charleston, an annual 10-day celebration of the arts in West Virginia’s capitol city. He currently serves on the board of directors of the York County Council for the Arts.
In the field of education, Dr. Wohl has served on the Steering Committee for the West Virginia Department of Education K-12 Arts Standards Task Force and help draft the theatre standards for state elementary and secondary schools. From 1992 to 2006, he coordinated the West Virginia Great Teachers Seminar for the West Virginia Higher Education Commission. As a Dean at WVSU, he oversaw the acquisition of the downtown Charleston Capitol Theatre, helped initiate the first-ever filmmaking program in West Virginia, and designed and implemented the MA Degree in Media Studies. . Dr. Wohl worked for two years as a weekend television news reporter for CBS affiliate WOWK in Charleston, WV and has been a guest speaker at schools and universities in Uganda, South Africa, Russia, Ukraine, and Aruba.
Dr. Wohl has written successful grants for a variety of programs including grants from the U.S. Department of Education, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts, the United States Agency on International Development and many corporate foundations, community foundations, and state agencies. He is listed in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in American Education, and Who’s Who in Entertainment. He also served as co-producer of the films, Chillers, Invasion of the Space Preachers, and Paradise Park and received the “Mayors Award” for Individual Artist of the Year from the City of Charleston, WV and the Fund for the Arts in 1999. In 2000, Dr. Wohl was honored with the prestigious Suzanne W. Davis Award for distinguished service to theatre in the south by the Southeastern Theatre Conference. In 2006, he received the “Lifetime Achievement” arts award from West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin. And, yes, he did attend the original Woodstock Music Festival in 1969!