July Issue - Stage Directions Magazine

Vital StatsBy Kevin Mitchell2007-2008 Theatre Resources DirectoryMissouri BreaksMeet Peter E. Sargent, aneducator who does morethan just teach.Current Home: St. Louis Repertory Theatre, St. Louis, MissouriAbout the Organization: Founded in 1966; Sargent hasbeen there from the beginning. Connected to WebsterUniversity, he is also dean of The Leigh Gerdine Collegeof Fine Arts.Schooling: He received his BFA from the Carnegie Instituteof Technology in 1959 and his MFA from Yale in 1963.Productions of Note: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way tothe Forum, Sweeney Todd, and The Mystery of Edwin Drood.Moonlights For: Playhouse in the Park in Cincinnati.Most Recent Work: Urinetown.What is Changing: “The exciting thing is we’re gettingbetter lighting instruments and sources, and more control.We have a greater variety of tools to do our art.”On Regional Theatre: “With regional theatre you can focusa lot on enhancing story telling, while with commercialtheatre, you sometimes get incredible productions thattend to get technology larger than life, to its detriment.”Concerns: The lack of time. “It’s a luxury to get threedays, 30 hours, of tech time. It gets down to how fast youcan get it to work.”Why He Bothers: “I think it’simportant to do the professionalwork while I’m teaching.I don’t know what valueis in teaching if you can’tshow off your work — good,bad or indifferent.”photo BY Bruce J. SummerS24 February 2007 • www.stage-directions.comwww.stage-directions.com Theatre Resources Directory 71