Cal Pritner began teaching in Kansas City public schools; after serving in the military, he earned MA and PhD degrees at the University of Illinois, Urbana. As a theatre professor he has taught at: Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville; Illinois State University (where he was the founding chair of the theatre department and the founding artistic director of the Illinois Shakespeare Festival); the University of Missouri-Kansas City (department chair), he has taught at the California Institute of the Arts and since 1994 he has taught in the California State Summer School for the Arts.