Dane Peterson
About Dane
Dane Peterson is an interdisciplinary theatre artist with over 35 years of professional experience as an actor, director, playwright, stage manager, producer, and educator. A passionate advocate for new works and transformational storytelling, his practice explores grief, resilience, and the divine through courageous, heart-centered theatre. Peterson has worked with Birmingham Children's Theatre, Samford University, Birmingham-Southern College, and Indian Springs School, among others, and has developed programming amplifying marginalized voices in the American South. He is committed to making theatre a sacred space for empathy, dialogue, and change.
Directing credits include: Dracula, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Fiddler on the Roof, South Pacific (Virginia Samford Theatre); Hansel and Gretel, Peter and the Wolf, The Trumpet of the Swan (Alabama Symphony Orchestra); Charlotte's Web, Peter Pan, Roald Dahl's Willy Wonka TYA, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (BCT); The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Samford University); Jacob Marley's Christmas Carol, The Vast Difference, Quills (Birmingham Festival Theatre); and Long Day's Journey Into Night, A Streetcar Named Desire, tick, tick... BOOM!, The Wild Party, Grey Gardens, The Who's Tommy, and Say Gay Plays (The DANE).
Selected acting credits include: Off-Off-Broadway include Minerva's Muscles (NYC Binge Festival), Bar Scene (New York is Dead), and Thirty-Seven Stones (Working Man's Clothes). Regional: I Am My Own Wife (Birmingham Festival Theatre); August: Osage County (City Equity Theatre); Jesus Christ Superstar (Virginia Samford Theatre); Cabaret ("Emcee") (UAB Town and Gown); The Composer is Dead (ASO); Little Shop of Horrors ("Seymour") (Magic City Actors Theatre); and Chicago ("Amos") (Red Mountain Theatre).
Peterson holds a B.A. in Theatre Arts from Birmingham-Southern College and an M.F.A. in Interdisciplinary Arts from Goddard College. He is an Associate Member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society and an Equity Membership Candidate with Actors' Equity.
As a progressive theatre maker, my teaching philosophy acts as a catalyst for transformation, inspiring theatre students not only to succeed but also to evolve, establish an artistic practice, and foster holistic processes. Ultimately, using theatre as a conduit, my goal is to equip students for critical, ethical, and empathetic thinking—something we need more than ever in today’s polarized world.
Peterson previously served as the Founding Vice President of the Birmingham Area Theatre Alliance, Theatre Director at John Carroll Catholic High School (1997–2007), and Director of Education and Production at Birmingham Children’s Theatre (2008–2013). Peterson has been nationally recognized in Who’s Who Among America’s High School Teachers and received the U.S. Presidential Scholars Program Teacher Recognition Award from the U.S. Department of Education in 2001.