Biography
Dave Peterson is an associate professor of theatre at Niagara University, having joined the faculty in the Fall of 2020. Dave teaches courses in theatre history and theory, in addition to directing in the NU theatre season. Productions include Ride the Cyclone, The Seagull, Fun Home, Everybody, Machinal, and Good Kids. He currently serves as advisor for the undergraduate theatre group, the NU Players, and has directed NU’s professional summer touring ensemble for youth, Niagara University Repertory Theatre (NURT). Dave’s recent scholarly work has focused on the American playwright Lorraine Hansberry. Previous publications include work on clowning and Shakespeare in journals such as Comparative Drama and Contemporary Theatre Review. Dave has presented work at conferences that include the Mid America Theatre Conference, the Association for Theatre in Higher Education, and the American Society for Theatre research. Prior to Niagara, Dave directed productions of Antigone, Harvey, Troilus and Cressida, Late: A Cowboy Song, and A Servant of Two Masters, among others. He has held teaching positions at California State University in Bakersfield, North Central College, and Colby College.
Recent Publications
“Lorraine Hansberry and Anti-Colonial Drama on the Broadway Stage,” in Emergence of Difference and Diversity in US and World Theatre, 1950s-1970s – Albee and his Contemporaries, Routledge 2025.
‘Performance Review: The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window’, the Black Theatre Review. 2(1) :81-83. 2023. doi: 10.2458/tbtr.5679
“It isn’t desolate because you are here”: Lorraine Hansberry’s Comedy in Raisin and the Sun and “The Arrival of Mr. Todog.”. Comedy Studies. Volume 15.1 2024. https://doi.org/10.1080/2040610X.2023.2290810
“Bill Irwin’s Clowning: Zany Labor of the “Physical Intellect”.” Comparative Drama, vol. 54 no. 1, 2020, p. 1-25.
“Thus, Like the Formal Vice”: Mark Rylance and Clowning in Richard III” in Comedy Studies 11:2 Autumn 2020
Presented at the following conferences
“‘They Should Laugh More” Lorraine Hansberry’s construction of Queer Space in Flowers for the General” Paper Presented at Theatre History Symposium at the Mid America Theatre Conference in Atlanta GA March 6th-8th, 2025
Shared work on “Lorraine Hansberry and Anti-Colonial Drama on the Broadway Stage” at “Edward Albee and the Emergence of Difference and Diversity in US and World Theatre, 1950s 1970s” Virtual roundtable discussion at Comparative Drama Conference, April 6th, 2024.
“William F. Wallett and the Comic Repertoire of Shakespeare” invited to share paper at Comedy and Embodiment Symposium, September 22-23rd, 2023 Boston MA
“Institutions as Sites of Inequity of Change” participated in roundtable discussing place of theatre history survey courses in undergraduate teaching. Association for Theatre in Higher Education Conference, Austin TX, August 3-6, 2023.
“Machinal in 2022: The Impossibilities of Staging Canons” Paper Presented at Theatre Pedagogy Symposium of the Mid America Theatre Conference in Minneapolis March 9th-12th 2023
“The Impossibility of Knowing Lorraine Hansberry: Les Blancs and her Post-Raisin Legacy” Paper Presented at Theatre History Symposium of the Mid America Theatre Conference in Minneapolis March 9th-12th 2023
“Avoiding Despair: Lorraine Hansberry’s Comedy in Raisin and the Sun and “The Arrival of Mr. Todog” Paper shared and discussed at the Comedy Studies Working Group at the American Society for Theatre Research in New Orleans November 3rd-6th 2023.
Focus of Teaching
Dave teaches courses on theatre history that span the origins of recorded performance practice to contemporary theatre. These courses cover a variety of geographic and cultural topics. He also teaches a course in dramatic theory and directs in Niagara’s production season.
Current Research
Dr. Dave Peterson’s current research focuses on the American playwright Lorraine Hansberry. Other areas of interest include clowning and Shakespeare performance.
Educational Background
- Ph.D. – Theatre History and Performance Studies, The University of Pittsburgh
- M.A. – Theatre, Michigan State University
- B.A. – Theatre and History, The University of Michigan