By Kelly Pollock
January 31, 2023
Growing up in Milwaukee, Peter G. Andersen knew from a young age that he wanted to work in theater. After graduating from Emerson College in Boston, he spent time working in the Chicagoland theater community including at Steppenwolf Theatre Company as the multicultural fellow and at Writers Theatre in Glencoe as the education manager. In December, he earned his Master of Fine Arts (MFA) from Carnegie Mellon University and has now returned to Chicago as Oak Park Festival Theatre’s new artistic director.
Founded in 1975, Oak Park Festival Theatre is one of the oldest theater companies in the area. It currently has a two-play season: a Shakespeare production in the summer in Austin Gardens and a classical play in the fall that is an immersive piece typically performed throughout either the park district’s Cheney Mansion or Pleasant Home.