Three performers in vintage costumes on a stage, posing dramatically with dark curtains behind them.
Chris Garcia Peak

Voyage, devised by Cock and Bull directed by Chris Garcia Peak, Chopin Theatre - Chicago

Central to my process is working closely with actors to develop bold, compelling performances that bring these worlds to life, forging a deep connection with audiences and immersing them in the storytelling.
— Chris Garcia Peak

BIOGRAPHY

Chris Garcia Peak is a director, writer, 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 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, Chris has directed a wide range of productions that blur form and genre. Highlights include the immersive Lecherous Honey by Megan Breen (a contemporary reimagining 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 universities nationwide, staging 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 also with Anne-Lynn Kettles/HB Studio. His additional training includes work with 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 has taught widely in higher education, serving 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, and as a guest artist at numerous colleges and universities nationwide. 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.

To view plays written by Chris and available for production visit New Play Exchange

Fans of devised theatre should flock to this experimental, creative and visually intriguing production at the Chopin Theatre

— Chicago Stage Standard

Two women in elaborate black dresses and an antique doll in a white dress with a painted face are in a dimly lit vintage room, with one woman holding the doll's head and the other kneeling and touching its hand.

Voyage, Chopin Theatre - Chicago, Created by Cock and Bull directed by Chris Garcia Peak. Puppet design by Stephanie Diaz.

“The type of play that needs to be seen...stellar acting...two thumbs up ”

— Chicago Now

“Chris Garcia Peak holds everything together with feverish assurance. ”

— Sheridan Road Magazine

“…a lovely piece of theatre directed by Chris Garcia Peak

— Paper Mag

Chris Garcia Peak brings skill to its execution...Voyage is beautifully realized.

— New City


The Octopus Interactive story

The Octopus, directed and co-created by Chris Garcia Peak for Cock and Bull Arts, is a groundbreaking web-based choose-your-own-adventure experience featuring a diverse global cast of actors. This innovative project invites audiences to dive deep into their potential through interactive storytelling. “A Masterpiece in interactive storytelling” - Washington Mail

Sessions Isolations

Sessions/Isolations - Created and Curated by Chris Garcia Peak, this initiative showcased a diverse array of virtual performances, artists, filmmakers, radio dramas, and an isolation artist gallery. Featured artists hailed from Chicago, Los Angeles, Israel, London, Portugal, Berlin, and Italy. Sessions/Isolations served as a global communal space for sharing creative work developed during lockdown across various countries throughout the pandemic. (Pictured: Magic Box Theatre UK, Amy Zaleta Martinez, Tiff Abreu)

  • “Chris Garcia Peak brings skill to its execution...Voyage is beautifully realized.When it’s over you feel like you’ve woken from a dream: intense, disturbing and yes a little ridiculous.”NewCityStage.com

    “The type of play that needs to be seen...stellar acting...two thumbs up”
    - Chicago Now Magazine

    “An energetic cast, who breeze through sharp sentences, death-defying fight choreography with the greatest of ease”
    Paperblog

    Lecherous Honey possesses masterful ambiance. It transports us and transforms the rooms we walk into. The spectacles inside are truly magical and awe-inspiring. It was easy to not question their reality with such powerful tools of world-building on display by
    Cock and Bull Arts led by Chris Garcia Peak”New City Stage

    “Live music and multimedia projections blend seamlessly into the show, which is structured as a bizarre stream-of-consciousness lounge act directed by Chris Garcia Peak”—
    The Chicago Reader

    “Fans of devised theatre should flock to this experimental, creative and visually intriguing production at the
    Chopin Theatre Chicago Stage Standard

    “One Sassy Piece of Theatre...highly recommend”
    Chicago Tribune

    "The Octopus is a pure dark comedy..The digital world created is intense, starkly funny, and wickedly smart."- Ritz Herald Magazine

    Titanic -With a slapstick opening, candy coated costuming and several demented song interludes, director Chris Garcia Peak holds everything together with feverish assurance. “ - Sheridan Road Magazine


    Titanic couldn’t be a better fit for this unconventional company. From the drag queen greeting audience members outside the theatre to the strange yet emotional final tableau…purely hilarious ”
    Chicago Theatre Beat

    Axe Lizzie’s creepy spectacle mixes song, puppetry, and rich design elements—These splatter fests ...couldn’t be more scrumptious.”The Chicago Reader

    Voolf immediately engulfs you in the highly-stylized fantastical interpretation of Peter and the Wolf....the design elements of this show are really tops. costumes, makeup, puppetry set, music, lighting, everything is an actors dream come true....a lovely piece of theatre directed by Chris Garcia Peak”
    Paper Blog

  • The Judgement - Cock and Bull Arts

    The Hungry Man/Moon Bull Studios- TBA

    The Boy Who Hates Everything - devised by Hope College and Chris Garcia Peak music and lyrics by Nathan Streifel - Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival region III, January 9th -11th

    Cock and Bull Arts-Chicago experimental theatre and arts organization, Producing Artistic Director Chris Garcia Peak “ Cock & Bull's The Octopus is a masterpiece in interactive storytelling”

    The Octopus - New interactive story and game from Cock and Bull directed and co-created by Chris Garcia Peak