BIOGRAPHY

Chris Garcia Peak is a director, writer, theatre maker and educator based in Chicago, IL. He is the Founder and Producing Artistic Director of Cock and Bull Arts, established in 2009 to explore identity, sexuality, and psychology through bold, imaginative theatre. Under his leadership, the company has produced immersive adaptations, devised originals, digital innovations, and international collaborations. Cock and Bull Arts has been supported by the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, and the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, where it completed two residencies in the In the Works series. The company has also developed work with Tony Award–winning director Rachel Chavkin, including the original project Voyage. 

For Cock and Bull Arts, Chris has directed a wide range of productions that blur form and genre. Highlights include the immersive Lecherous Honey by Megan Breen (a contemporary re-imagining of Ibsen’s Ghosts), Voyage at the Chopin Theatre, Titanic at the Athenaeum, Axe Lizzie and The Possession of Alice at Prop Theatre, Peter and the Wolf at Gallery 37, Voolf at Berger Park, and the multimedia works The Children of Nyx and The Octopus, an interactive digital performance experienced by more than 16,000 players worldwide. His broader directing credits include Shakespeare’s As You Like It and Titus Andronicus, Mac Wellman’s Dracula, Cabaret, and The Rocky Horror Show.

Chris has also been a guest director at various universities, directing The Rover (Illinois State University), The Seagull and School for Scandal (DePaul University), The Laramie Project (Lake Forest College), and The Boy Who Hates Everything (Hope College), a Theatre for Young Audiences musical honored nationally at the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival in 2024 with awards for Outstanding Devised Play and Distinguished Director. He regularly leads workshops in directing, devised theatre, and acting at institutions across the country.

He is a recipient of the Goodman Theatre’s Michael Maggio Directing Fellowship, directing Karen Zacarías’ Mariela in the Desert for the inaugural New Stages Festival and assisting Henry Godinez on the world premiere of Luis Alfaro’s Electricidad. He has also worked with Steppenwolf Theatre, Next Theatre, the Illinois Shakespeare Festival, and the Dallas Theater Center.

As a playwright, Chris has written The Legend of Ginger Bred, Revenging Ophelia, House and Home, The Possession of Alice, The Rover: Love at First Fight (a contemporary adaptation of Aphra Behn’s comedy), and The Peacock Room (inspired by Lorca’s The House of Bernarda Alba). His solo performance works, including Snapped Dragon and El Macho, El Dragón y El Diablo, have been staged in both Los Angeles and Chicago.

Chris is the former Executive Director of the national non-profit Theatre for Young Audiences, USA(TYA/USA),where he created professional development programming and coordinated the national festivals One Theatre World (Seattle and Cleveland). At TYA/USA he secured grants and sponsorships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Kennedy Center, and Kaiser Permanente.

Chris holds an MFA in Directing from The Theatre School at DePaul University and a Postgraduate Diploma in Acting and Musical Theatre from Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, London, where he studied with voice teacher Tess Dignan of Shakespeare’s Globe and South African theatre director Brian Astbury, co-founder of Cape Town’s groundbreaking Space Theatre, the first racially integrated theatre in South Africa, developed alongside Athol Fugard. Chris has also studied with Anne-Lynn Kettles/HB Studio. His additional training includes: the Moscow Art Theatre, SITI Company, Pig Iron Theatre, Punchdrunk (Sleep No More), Rachel Rosenthal, Anne Wakefield, Ruth Zaporah (Action Theater), and The Groundlings. Recently, he completed workshops with The Black Acting Methods Studio, the United States Institute for Peace (Media and the Arts for Peace; Gender and Inclusivity in Peacebuilding), and Punchdrunk’s Making Immersive Work with Young Audiences.

Chris served for over a decade as an adjunct faculty member at The Theatre School at DePaul University, as an Instructional Assistant Professor at Illinois State University, Columbia College Chicago and as a guest artist at numerous colleges and universities. His teaching and workshops focus on directing, acting, devising, playwriting, and ensemble-based theatre.

He is an active member of SDC (Society of Directors and Choreographers), the Dramatists Guild, NALAC (National Association of Latino Arts and Culture), and the National Network of Ensemble Theatres.