Gerould was one of the world’s most recognized “Witkacologists,” a leading scholar and translator of the work of Polish playwright, novelist, painter, and philosopher Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz ("Witkacy").
Gerould's writings often include thick personal description of historical figures to frame important theoretical texts, as seen in his collection Theatre/Theory/Theory.
Gerould was the recipient of the City University of New York Award for Excellence in Teaching (Graduate Center) and was honored by TWB, Theater Without Borders, as a Groundbreaker in international theatre exchanges.
In the 2010 introduction to his compendium of essays, QuickChange, Gerould described trips to the “legitimate stage” with his mother in the 1930s and early 40s as planting the seeds for his long career as an “intensive spectator”: “At that time many Broadway-bound productions tried out first in Boston, and I remember Ethel Barrymore in The Corn Is Green by Emlyn Williams and Arsenic and Old Lace with Boris Karloff.
I felt myself a seasoned spectator, was at home among audiences, and was always ready to applaud bravura displays of virtuoso acting.”[citation needed]p Gerould graduated from Boston Latin High School and entered the University of Chicago at the age of 16.