St. Louis, Missouri
Peter Sargent started his career in theatre as an actor, playing Idwal in a summer theatre production of The Corn Is Green. He discovered the backstage world as an apprentice at the Marblehead (Massachusetts) Summer Theatre.
Mr. Sargent has designed lighting for over three hundred productions at the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, the Great Lakes Theatre Festival, the Arrow Rock Lyceum Theatre, the Goodspeed Opera House and other venues. He has served as a theatre consultant for the design of over twenty theatres.
In 1966 he became the technical director and lighting designer for the Loretto-Hilton Repertory Theatre in St. Louis and a faculty member at Webster College (as it was called then). He subsequently developed and established the conservatory of theatre arts at Webster University, becoming the chair of the department of theatre and dance in 1968. As associate dean for fine arts he led the faculty to establish the College of Fine Arts in 1994 and was named dean in 1995.
The long list of theatre organizations Mr. Sargent has worked with throughout the years includes the Unified Audition Tour, the Association for Theatre in Higher Education, the United States Institute for Theatre Technology, the American Theatre Association, The American College Theater Festival, and the International Council of Fine Arts Deans. He has been active with many arts groups in St. Louis including serving as resident lighting designer for the Loretto-Hilton Repertory Theatre and the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis.
Mr. Sargent attended his first International Thespian Festival in Muncie, Indiana, in 1984 and quickly became a Festival regular. He was one of the first college administrators to actively support the Festival, developing the design and technical scholarship audition process and serving as coordinator for the college scholarship auditions for the Festival for several years. He attends many state conferences and is a frequent workshop presenter. Mr. Sargent has served as a territorial and regional director and on the EdTA Board of Directors. He received EdTA’s President’s Award in 1988.
Mr. Sargent received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in lighting design and technical production from the Carnegie Institute of Technology (known today as Carnegie-Mellon University) and a Master of Fine Arts in lighting design from the school of drama at Yale University.
