William Peterson

Based in Burra, in the Mid-North of South Australia, Will is Adjunct Associate Professor in Theatre and Performance Studies in the School of Languages and Culture at the Auckland University of Technology. From 2014-2021, he was Associate Professor of Drama at Flinders University. He has held academic posts at Monash University, California State University San Bernardino, the University of Waikato, and the National University of Singapore, where he was foundational academic staff for the country's first university-level theatre degree. Author of "Asian Self Representation at World's Fairs" (Amsterdam Uni Press 2020), "Places for Happiness: Community, Self, and Performance in the Philippines" (University of Hawai'i Press, 2016) and "Theatre and the Politics of Culture in Contemporary Singapore" (Wesleyan 2001), his academic research focuses on mass performance work in Asia and the Pacific and international festivals. He is former Artistic Director of Diversionary Theatre, one of America's oldest and most acclaimed LGBTQ+ companies, and in 1998, with Cristian Pilditch, he co-founded the FUEL Festival of New Zealand Theatre. His theatre degrees are from the University of Texas at Austin and San Diego State University, and he holds a BSFS from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service.