Gatesville ISD names Caitlynn Monaghen new theatre director
Gatesville ISD handed Hornet Theatre to Caitlynn Monaghen, a UIL-tested director with region and state credentials and a record of building student performers.
Gatesville ISD has named Caitlynn Monaghen, known to students as Miss M., as the district’s new theatre director, putting a proven UIL leader at the center of Hornet Theatre in Coryell County. The hire gives Gatesville High School a director with competition experience, classroom work and a deep theatre background as the district looks ahead to another school year.
Monaghen comes to Gatesville after two years at Hughes Springs High School, where she served as One Act Play director, Prose and Poetry sponsor, Theatrical Design sponsor, UIL Film sponsor, Collegiate Scholar mentor and Class of 2026 sponsor. Gatesville ISD said she also serves as the registrar for the Texas Educational Theatre Association and is an alumna of Stephen F. Austin State University’s School of Theatre and Dance.
Her resume includes a strong UIL track record. Gatesville ISD said Monaghen took Rabbit Hole to OAP Alternate to Region in 2025 and led Bothered and Bewildered to the Top 16 in the state in 2026. The district also said she guided her students to District and Bi-District championships and advanced all six students to Regional Prose and Poetry in both 2025 and 2026. One of those students reached the Poetry state level in 2025.
Beyond competition, Monaghen has directed full productions that suggest a broad skill set for building a school program. Her work has included The Wizard of Oz and Junie B. Jones, along with The Carol of Tiny Tim and a senior-directed production of 10 Ways to Survive the End of the World. That mix of musicals, fall theatre and student-led work points to a director comfortable developing performers at different levels.
She arrives at a program that is already active. Gatesville High School’s Hornet Theatre had already posted its 2025-26 season materials, donation requests and book-club plans, showing that theatre at Gatesville ISD is not starting from scratch. Monaghen said she is “extremely excited to start this next chapter and cannot wait to meet everyone!”
For Gatesville, the hire signals more than a staffing change. It places a director with UIL results, Texas theatre credentials and student mentorship experience at the helm of a program that can help shape performers, designers and writers while serving as a visible part of campus life in Coryell County.
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