James Peterson has taught at Carmel High School since 1993 and is has been a force in creating a dynamic and challenging theatre curriculum, while raising his two young sons with his wife, Angela.

Peterson began his career at Huntington Park High School in Los Angeles where he taught from 1989-1991.  He was then busy at Bloomington South High School in Bloomington, Indiana where he taught theatre arts, English, directed their spring play and designed and supervised the running of their Hoagy Carmichael Auditorium.

He received his B.S. in Secondary Education from Indiana University and his M.S. in Secondary Education from Butler University, where he majored in Speech Communication and Theatre.   Peterson is active in a wide variety of local and state committees designed to improve education in the theatre arts.  At Carmel High School he serves on the Fine Arts Evaluation, International Baccalaureate, and Technology Committees.  He is also the Scholarship Chair for the Indiana State Thespian Society, as well as one of their Adult Board Members.   He served proudly on the Indiana Academic Standards for the Theatre Arts Committee from 2001-2003 and the IASP Center for the Arts Committee from 1998-2000.  He currently works as a State Liaison for the American Alliance for Theatre and Education in Indiana, and serves on the Indiana Computer Educators, the Hoosier Educational Computer Coordinators, and the Carmel Clay Schools Fine Arts Evaluation Committees.

At Carmel High School he has directed numerous plays, including The Diary of Anne Frank, The Visit, She Stoops to Conquer, Black Comedy and a particularly satisfying modern adaptation of the Greek tragedy, Antigone which used newscasters and the media as the Greek Chorus. The play was performed at Carmel High School’s Studio Theatre with a giant video wall as a backdrop. Pre-recorded images as well as live action, as it was happening on stage, were projected on these televisions.  He supervises the student directed one act plays each year.

In addition to teaching, Peterson is an assistant thespian sponsor for Troupe 3315 and is an assistant auditorium director.   He has developed the curriculum for the first-third years and has recently developed theatre and film courses for the International Baccalaureate program which will begin in 2007.   He enjoys integrating technology in his classes and routinely has his students create videos using linear and non-linear editing techniques.  He has also taught Commercial Acting for Television at John Robert Powers in Indianapolis.

Peterson is an active theatre professional, appearing on stage, film, television and radio.  He was awarded the Best Supporting Actor at SCIFI London for Hank in Saving Star Wars and has played Lord Capulet in Romeo and Juliet for Janus Productions and Frederick LeBeau in Mountain Molly for the Indianapolis Civic Theatre. He is skilled in fencing, stage combat, firearms, and dialects, speaks fluent French, plays the tuba and bass trombone, and sings in his church choir.

His love for teaching is demonstrated with his many awards including a member of the Carmel High School Staff Academy for ten years, Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers in 1998 and 2000, the Educational Theatre Association’s Award for Outstanding School in 1997-1998 and a member of the Carmel/Clay Educational Foundation Honor Roll that same year.