Grant Peterson

Dr. Grant Tyler Peterson joined Brunel in 2013, having previously taught at Royal Holloway, University of London, University of Winchester, and Bath Spa University.  Grant is an emerging scholar and has published work on a diverse range of subjects including British alternative theatre history, dance, gender, sexuality, and digital research methodologies. 

Grant holds experience as a performer in theatre, musical theatre, television and commercials, and worked in numerous venues throughout Los Angeles and Southern California. He was trained at elite programmes including the Orange County School of the Arts and the Ray Bolger Musical Theatre Program at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

In addition to receiving a BA in theatre and musical theatre at UCLA, Grant earned an interdisciplinary Masters degree in experimental theatre and dance under the guidance of Sue-Ellen Case and David Gere.  After moving to Britain, he received Ph.D. funding from the Higher Education Funding Council of England (Overseas Research Students Awards Scheme) to study at Royal Holloway under the supervision of Professor Dan Rebellato and Dr. Chris Megson. This resulted in a project that examined British street theatre traditions and presented the first formal case study of one of England’s longest running – yet overlooked – street theatre troupes, the Natural Theatre Company.

Research Overview

Grant maintains multiple research interests including alternative theatre histories, gender and sexuality, dance, and digital humanities. His postgraduate work at UCLA resulted in two journal articles and two book chapters.  These projects drew from his ethnographic fieldwork as a go-go dancer and used qualitative methods to examine changing modes of gender and choreography in dance clubs from 1970-2010.

Grant’s doctoral research offered a historiographical revision of British alternative theatre.  He has published portions of this material in Research in Drama Education: Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance, as well as a forthcoming book chapter for the Methuen Theatre History series edited by John Bull, Tracy C. Davis and Graham Saunders.  Grant plans to publish additional material from this research in future journal articles and book projects.

Grant’s research also extends to examining the intersections of digital technologies and theatre studies. In 2010, he urged the editors of the Cambridge Companion to Theatre History (2012) to address digital literacies and was subsequently invited to co-author a chapter with Professor Jacky Bratton. The resulting piece, ‘The Internet: History 2.0?, performatively explores issues that students and scholars face in the new landscapes developing in the field of digital humanities.

Teaching Activity

Performance Analysis and Critical Theory, Musical Theatre, Experimental/Alternative Traditions, Gender & Sexuality, Devising, Acting, History, Research Methods.

Publications

Journal Papers

(2012) Peterson, GT. and Anderson, E., The performance of softer masculinities on the university dance floor, Journal of Men's Studies: a scholarly journal about men and masculinities 3- 15

(2011) Peterson, GT., 'Playgrounds that would never happen now because they’d be far too dangerous' : Risk, childhood development and radical sites of theatre practice, Research in Drama Education: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance 16 (3) : 385- 402

(2011) Peterson, GT., Clubbing masculinities: Gender shifts in gay men's dance floor choreographies, Journal of Homosexuality 58 (5) : 608- 625

Book Chapters

(2012) Peterson, GT., Clubbing Masculinities: Gender Shifts in Gay Men’s Dance Floor Choreographies. In: Anderson, E. ed. Sport, Masculinities and Sexualities. Routledge 44-61-

(2012) Bratton, J. and Peterson, GT., The Internet: History 2.0?. In: Wiles, D. and Dymkowski, C. eds. The Cambridge Companion to Theatre History. Cambridge University Press 299- 313

(2011) Peterson, GT. and Anderson, E., Queering masculine peer culture: Softening gender performances on the university dance floor. In: Landreau, J. and Rodriguez, N. eds. Queer masculinities: A critical reader in education. Springer 119- 138