Christopher McGahan grew up in Missouri, and spent much of his young life on the campus of Northeast Missouri State University (now Truman State). He moved to Iowa when he was 12, and ended up attending the University of Northern Iowa, where he received his BA in Theater. After graduation, he moved to Minneapolis, where he co-founded and ran Bad Attitude Productions, which produced shows from 2004 until 2007. He earned his MFA at the University of Hawaii in 2012.