Lee Peters
Teaching Artist – Changing Voices
Originally from Brooklyn, New York, Lee has worn many hats including director, performer, teacher, and administrator. Lee was the Arts in Education Coordinator for the Theater for the New City on the Lower East Side in Manhattan where he was also an Assistant Director for their annual free summer street theater. Through a partnership with Lincoln Center and the Hangar theatre in Ithaca New York Lee traveled through New York State managing the logistics for an educational school tour of Romeo and Juliet. He then traveled the country stage managing and performing in a school tour of Don Quixote in Spanish and English followed by Cyrano De Bergerac in French and English. After moving to Chicago Lee worked with the Young Actors ensemble as Stage Manager, box office manager and performer. Lee was the head of the Theater School at Village Players in Oak Park for several years. While there he introduced higher level skill building workshops for young people including juggling, tap dance, playwriting and directing, he helped turn the summer camp into a suite of year-round offerings and he founded the Junior Ensemble to provide students a way to be more involved with the theater and create their own productions.
Lee worked at Shedd Aquarium for 13 years in a variety of education roles. He was a Presentation Specialist delivering the daily large scale aquatic presentations as well as facilitating informal animal chats. He also worked in the Learning Department developing training for teens and volunteers and in his last role at Shedd he was the Assistant Director of Live Programs helping to create educational experiences that spark compassion, curiosity, and conservation for the natural world. After leaving the aquarium due to the pandemic he worked with the International Children’s Media Center supporting work that helps kids and adults develop healthy screen habits.
In his last role as Director of Education at Lookingglass Theatre Lee had the opportunity to bring unique arts education residencies to hundreds of Chicago students during a difficult year of navigating a return to in person programming. In addition, he helped lead the Lookingglass Young Ensemble, a group for students enthusiastic about creating theater in the Lookingglass aesthetic. Lee collaborated with them to develop their creativity using writing exercises during their time online and helped guide the young artists in their return to live performance in a Lookingglass classic directed by one of the adult ensemble members.
Lee is currently a company member with Playmakers Laboratory. Playmakers teaches writing skills to Chicago students and turns their writing into performances for their schools and the greater community. He started off as a box office and front of house manager for their performances of That’s Weird Grandma. During the first part of the pandemic while in quarantine, Lee thoroughly enjoyed adapting, performing in, and editing short digital pieces based on student writing.
Lee is excited to be joining the team at Storycatchers and hopes his experiences and passion for creating musical theatre through nurturing educational experiences helps to continue moving our mission forward and has a powerful impact on the young people we serve.