Dr William Peterson

Background

William Peterson helped design and initiate the theatre studies programs at the National University of Singapore (1992-95) and the University of Waikato in Hamilton, New Zealand (1995-1998) and has taught at the California State University San Bernardino (1998-2006), San Diego State University, and at the University of Texas at Austin, where he served as a research fellow for Professor Oscar Brockett while pursuing his Ph.D. in Theatre History and Criticism (awarded 1991).

Research Interests

Dr. Peterson has published widely on theatre, politics, and intercultural theatre practice in Singapore, the Philippines, and Aotearoa/New Zealand. His primary research focus at present is on the terrain where theatre, politics, culture and religion intersect in a range of performance activities in the Philippines, including the many performative events associated with “Holy Week”, the week between Palm Sunday and Easter. He has also published on Maori and New Zealand theatre and maintains an active and ongoing research interest in international festival culture.

Selected Publications

Theatre and the Politics of Culture in Contemporary Singapore, Wesleyan University Press, 2001, Cloth & Paper Editions, 298 pp.

This was the first full-length study on a Southeast Asian country that used theatre as the lens through which to examine that country’s political and cultural life. The work was published by one of America’s most selective academic presses and appeared in the same catalogue with the posthumous writings of John Cage, one of the pioneers of mid-century modern art and music. Singaporean theatre academic and media celebrity K.K. Seet, in his review in TDR, comments on Peterson’s “accessible writing style, aptly punctuated by a whimsical sense of humour makes his book an engaging read while belying its impressive range of references and its meticulous research, much of which is also evident in the substantial endnotes and annotations.” Koi Tai Ann, one of Singapore’s most respected cultural critics, observes in Australasian Drama Studies that, “What Peterson’s book contributes to Singapore studies in particular and cultural studies in general are informed, detailed accounts and analyses of the inescapable shaping effect of government policies” with respect to theatre in Singapore. The work has proved to be of interest to students and scholars in cultural studies, anthropology, and Asian Studies, and is not geared exclusively for a readership interested in theatre as a discrete subject.