Peter works extensively as a director of theater, musical theater, opera and new work development. Since 2023, he is the Producing Artistic Director at Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota, Florida. He is the C0-founder of Theater Latté Da, a Twin Cities-based company, where he served as Artistic Director since 1998. Since the Theater Latté Da’s inception in 1992, Peter directed 92 main-stage productions, including 14 world premieres and 14 area premieres. In 2012, the company launched NEXT, a major new works initiative for the development of new music-theater.

Directing highlights include Other Desert Cities, M. Butterfly and Private Lives for the Guthrie Theater, record-breaking productions of Annie, The Wizard of Oz, and the world premiere of Disney’s High School Musical for the Children’s Theatre Company; Cosi fan tutte for the Minnesota Opera; Doubt, Once on this Island and Miss Julie for Ten Thousand Things; Guys and Dolls and Oklahoma! for Seattle’s 5th Avenue Theatre; and award-winning productions of Spring Awakening, La Bohème, Old Wicked Songs and Violet for Theater Latté Da.

Peter frequently directs workshops of new plays, musicals and operas with Theater Latté Da, the Playwrights’ Center, Philadelphia’s PlayPenn and the Illusion Theatre, where he is an artistic associate.

He is the creator of All Is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914, which premiered in a live broadcast on Minnesota Public Radio and has since been broadcast around the globe. In 2018, All is Calm received its Off-Broadway debut at the Sheen Center for Thought & Culture, for which it won a 2019 Drama Desk Award for Unique Theatrical Experience. This original docu-musical had its world premiere in a live broadcast on Minnesota Public Radio in 2007. Since that time, the show has enjoyed global success reaching more than 50 cities playing prestigious venues such as The Kennedy Center (Washington, D.C.), Cal Performances (Berkeley, CA) and the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York). The show has toured 11 season across North America and has been licensed and performed by theater companies and choruses across the US and Canada. Peter is also the creator of Steerage Song along with musician and storyteller Dan Chouinard. Steerage Song is a new musical about the European American immigrant experience between 1845 and 1924 seen through the lens of the current immigration debate. The work includes songs from 25 countries and is performed in 18 different languages.

Peter has been named one of Minnesota’s Artists of the Year by the Star Tribune (2001, 2007, 2011), Theater Artist of the Year (2010) by Lavender Magazine, Best Director of the Year (2006, 2010) by City Pages and Artist of the Year by City Pages(2012). He has received nine Ivey Awards for Overall Excellence, and has been awarded grants and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, Theater Communications Group, the Minnesota State Arts Board and the McKnight Foundation.

Peter has served on the board of directors for the National Alliance for Musical Theatre, Alive and Kickin’ and the Twin Cities’ Ivey Awards. He also served on the steering committee for the creation of the Minnesota Theater Alliance. He has been as a panelist and evaluator for the Playwrights’ Center, the McKnight Foundation, the Minnesota State Arts Board and the National Alliance for Musical Theatre’s Festival of New Musicals.

Peter has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music and Theater from St. John’s University and a Master of Fine Arts degree in Directing from University of Wisconsin – Madison.

Artistic Leadership

Producting Artistic Director, Asolo Repertory Theatre, Sarasota, FL (2023-present)
Founding Artistic Director, Theater Latté Da, Minneapolis, MN  (1996–2023)
Board Emeritus, National Alliance for Musical Theatre (2012 - present)
US Delegation, International Theater Festival, Havana, Cuba  (2015)
Career Development Program for Directors, NEA/TCG (2007- 2009)
Steering Committee, Minnesota Theater Alliance (2007-2009)
Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab, New York, NY (2008)
La Mama International Directors Symposium, Spoleto, Italy (2003)

Theater

Immortal Longings, ZACH Theatre (2019)**
Underneath the Lintel, Theater Latté Da (2018)
Six Degrees of Separation, Theater Latté Da (2017)
Choir Boy, Guthrie Theater (2016)*
Romeo and Juliet, Ten Thousand Things, (Fall 2014)
Our Town, Theater Latté Da ( 2014)
Other Desert Cities, Guthrie Theater (2013)*
Song of Extinction, Theater Latté Da/Guthrie Theater (2011)*
Doubt, Ten Thousand Things (2011)
M. Butterfly, Guthrie Theater (2010)
Old Wicked Songs, Theater Latté Da/Guthrie Theater (2008)
The Laramie Project, Matthew Shepherd Foundation (2008)
Private Lives, Guthrie Theater (2007)

Musical Theater

Twelve Angry Men: A New Musical, Asolo Repertory Theatre (2024)
Inherit the Wind, Asolo Repertory Theatre (2024)
Next To Normal, Theater Latté Da (2023)
Man of La Mancha, Asolo Repertory Theatre (2023)
Merrily We Roll Along, Theater Latté Da (2022)
Twelve Angry Men: A New Musical, Theater Latté Da (2022)
Annie, Childrens’s Theater Company (2021)
Joyful Echoes, Minnesota Orchestra (2021)
All is Calm, Theater Latté Da (2022)
Annie, Children’s Theatre Company (2021)
Home for the Holidays, Minnesota Orchestra (2019)
All is Calm, Theater Latté Da (2019)
Chicago, Theater Latté Da (2019)
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Asolo Repertory Theater (2019)
Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Theater Latté Da (2019)
A Little Night Music, Theater Latté Da (2019)
All is Calm, Theater Latté Da, Off-Broadway debut (2018)*
Once, Theater Latté Da (2018)*
Ragtime, Asolo Repertory Theatre (2018)
Five Points, Theater Latté Da (2018)**
Assassins, Theater Latté Da (2018)
Home for the Holidays, Minnesota Orchestra (2017-18)
A Christmas Carole Petersen, Theater Latté Da (2017)
Ragtime, 5th Avenue Theatre (2017)
Man of La Mancha, Theater Latté Da (2017)
Guys and Dolls, Utah Shakespeare Festival (2017)
Ragtime, Theater Latté Da (2016)
All Is Calm, (also Creator) Theater Latté Da/Cantus/Minnesota Public Radio (2007-13)**
C. Theater Latté Da (2016)**
Gypsy, Theater Latté Da (2016)
Sweeney Todd, Theater Latté Da (2015)
Peter Pan, Children’s Theatre Company (Spring 2015)
Shrek, Children’s Theatre Company (Spring 2014)
Cabaret, Theater Latté Da/Hennepin Theatre Trust (2014)
Steerage Song, (also Creator) Theater Latté Da (2013) **
Spring Awakening, Theater Latté Da/University of Minnesota (2012)
Oklahoma!, 5th Avenue Theatre (2012)

Opera

The Life and Death(s) of Alan Turing, Chicago Opera Theater (2023)
La Bohème, Theater Latté Da, Minneapolis, MN (2022)
Fellow Travelers, Madison Opera, Madison, WI (2020)
Fellow Travelers, Boston Lyric Opera (2019)*
Fellow Travelers, Minnesota Opera (2018)*
Diana's Garden, Minnesota Opera (2017)*
Così fan tutte, Minnesota Opera (2011)
La Bohème (also Translator) Theater Latté Da, (2005, 2007)
Susannah, Theater Latté Da (2007)
The Star Gatherer, St. John’s Boys’ Choir (2006, 2007)**

* Denotes Area Premiere   ** Denotes World Premiere

New Work in Development

Playwrights:

Katie Baldwin Eng, Liv Cummins, Dan Dietz, Madeleine George, Beth Gilleland, Bradley Greenwald, Jordan Harrison, Kevin Kling, Chip Klose, Carson Kreitzer, Jon Marans, Terrence McNally, Kira Obolensky, Tod Petersen, Riti Sachdeva, Andrew Saito, Gene Scheer, Rosanna Staffa, Lydia Stryk, Kathleen Tolan

Composers:

Carla Alcorn, Mary Ellen Childs, Dan Chouinard, Bob Elhai, Aaron Gabriel, Michael Gruber, Rob Hartmann, Michael Holland, Steve Kramer, Erick Lichte, David Mallamud, Stephen Paulus, Gary Rue, Jeff Tang, Timothy Takach

Institutions:

The Playwrights’ Center, PlayPenn, Children’s Theatre Company, Illusion Theater, Minnesota Opera, Minnesota Public Radio, Theater Latté Da, Zach Theatre

Honors and Awards

2019 Drama Desk Award, Unique Theatrical Experience, All is Calm
No. 1 in Top 10 Productions 2018, Star Tribune, Assassins
2017 Ivey Award for Overall Excellence, Ragtime
2017 Ivey Award, Production Design & Execution, Six Degrees of Separation
Best Director, 2015, City Pages
Top 10 Productions 2016, Star Tribune, Sweeney Todd
Best Musical of the Year, 2016, City Pages, Sweeney Todd
Artist of the Year, 2015, Star Tribune
The 5 Biggest Moments in the Arts in 2015, MinnPost, Sweeney Todd
Ivey Award for Overall Excellence, 2014, Cabaret
Best Musical of 2014, Minnesota Monthly, Sweeney Todd
Best Director, 2014, City Pages
Community Award, 2014, Lavender Magazine
The American Theatre Wing National Theatre Company Award, 2013
Top Ten Productions of 2013, Star Tribune, Other Desert Cities, Guthrie Theater
Top Ten Productions of 2013, Lavender Magazine, Other Desert Cities, Guthrie Theater
Artist Initiative Award (2013, 2011, 2005) Minnesota State Arts Board
2012 Ivey Award for Overall Excellence, Spring Awakening, Theater Latté Da
Best Musical of 2012, City Pages, Spring Awakening
Best of 2011-12, Minnesota Playlist, Spring Awakening
Top Ten Productions of 2012, Lavender Magazine, Spring Awakening
Minnesota Artists of the Year (2011, 2007, 2001) Star Tribune
Best Production of 2011, Star Tribune, Doubt, Ten Thousand Things
Top Ten Productions of 2011, City Pages, Doubt, Ten Thousand Things
2011 Ivey Award for Overall Excellence, Doubt, Ten Thousand Things
Top Ten Productions of 2011, Star Tribune, Annie, Children’s Theatre Company
Best Director (2011, 2006), City Pages
Best Theater in the Twin Cities (2010), Theater Latté Da, City Pages
Violet, Theater Latté Da/Guthrie Theater
Best Musical of 2010, City Pages
Theater Artist of the Year (2010, 2007), Lavender Magazine
All Is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914, Theater Latté Da/Cantus/Minnesota Public Radio
Gabriel Award for Broadcast Excellence (2010)
Gold World Medal at the 2010 New York Festivals (2010)
M. Butterfly, Guthrie Theater
Best Production of the Year (2010), Lavender Magazine
Old Wicked Songs, Theater Latté Da/Guthrie Theater
Best Production of a Play (2008), Star Tribune

Education

Master of Fine Arts, Directing, University of Wisconsin – Madison
Bachelor of Arts, Music and Theater Arts, St. John’s University