The Oak Park Festival Theatre (OPFT)—the oldest professional classical theater in the Midwest—announced that Peter G. Andersen will be joining the company as its new artistic director in January 2023.
It is the first time that a person taking this position at the theater has been queer or a person of color.
Andersen takes the artistic helm after a nationwide search and will set the stage for the thousands of annual attendees who look to Oak Park Festival Theatre not just for summer Shakespeare in the park but also for new interpretations of classic works year-round.
“I have been a long admirer of Oak Park Festival Theatre. It’s a company which has an outstanding reputation within the theatre community of Chicago, and one I feel a great sense of kinship with,” said Anderson in a press release. “OPFT is approaching its 50th season, and I am thrilled to lead it into its next chapter. This company has a long history of producing ‘classical’ plays, and I plan on bringing my years of experience working with the classical canon to produce fresh productions for modern audiences. I am eager to explore what constitutes ‘classical’ or ‘canonical’ plays by producing works by queer artists and artists of color [who] have historically been excluded. This is a thrilling time to be working in American Theatre, because there is a collective examination and conversation around the type [of] work theaters should produce. I am elated to help bring OPFT into that conversation, as it moves into its 50th year.”
Andersen obtained his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Acting from Emerson College and recently graduated from The John Wells Directing Program at Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Drama, earning a Master of Fine Arts degree in directing.