Anyone who goes to a lot of plays on the Monterey Peninsula would know Peter Eberhardt. He has performed at the majority of the venues here, and often stands out for his comic roles. At any one point in time, he'll probably be in performance for one play, in rehearsal for another, and maybe contemplating his next audition. When asked why his theatre work is so on-going , he replied, "If you're going to be doing this, you might as well be doing it on a continual basis."

Peter grew up in Southern California. From kindergarten on, he attended schools in the Pacific Palisades - an area primarily upper middle-class to wealthy. The schools were good and often incorporated some form of drama in their programs. His first acting part was as The Pied Piper in THE PIED PIPER OF HAMLIN ("because I was tall"). Two years later he was in the school production of HANSEL AND GRETEL - the operetta - mostly cast with members of the school's choral groups.

His interest in drama increased in Junior High school. He had a good theatre teacher and joined the school's drama club, and began participating in school-sponsored Shakespeare festivals. He remembers hearing the original production on listener-supported KPFK of Shaw's BACK TO METHUSELAH - and started buying plays. He continued acting in high school, including THE INSPECTOR GENERAL and WEST SIDE STORY (the cast included Katie Sagal, now on "Married With Children"). Other actors at his school included Don Petrie, who later became a film director e.g. "Mystic Pizza."

Next he went to Santa Monica College, a two-year school, which he attended for seven years. The tuition was extremely cheap and he kept getting cast and "sticking around" to do plays. At the same time he began taking acting classes with Dr. David Garfield, an acting teacher at SMC, who also started a private studio. Dr. Garfield had been active in theatre in New York (he was Mottl when Bette Midler was Tzeitel in FIDDLER ON THE ROOF and was also in the original cast of THE ROTHCHILDS). Peter studied with him for about a year, learning a respect for certain method techniques. Then, for about two years, he studied with Jack Manning, a character actor of some note, mostly doing a scene workhop. Finally leaving SMC, he continued his education as a theatre major at Cal State Northridge, got married, and completed his education at the University of California at Santa Barbara. Then his wife got a job at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. At first he took any job in Flagstaff, including as a security guard at a shopping mall. Eventually he got a job as a part-time professor at NAU, teaching Theatre Appreciation and Acting For Non-majors. And he did some community theatre in Flagstaff.

In 1992, now divorced, Peter moved to the Monterey Peninsula. His parents had been living here about ten years, and his mother was recently a widow. In 1993 he made his presence known locally in MR. PIPPLEPOPPER'S PET SHOP. From then on he was on his way in a continuous onslaught of theatre productions - JACQUES AND HIS MASTER with Ron Genauer, THE PLANTAGANETS, SIBLINGS, THE MAN WHO CAME TO DINNER, Major-General Stanley in THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE, Malvolio in THE TWELFTH NIGHT, and Bardolph in HENRY V. He continued with THE MADNESS OF KING GEORGE, SWEENEY TODD, PYGMALION, RED HOT AND COLE, PERICLES, J.B., A CHRISTMAS CAROL, various childrens shows for Unicorn (he's been described as the definitive Eeyore), HEART OF THE WEST, and SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY. At this point he's booked up until October - THREE PENNY OPERA, LAUGHTER ON THE 23rd FLOOR, and ROMEO AND JULIET. He's on two Peninsula theatre boards - Unicorn and MCTA, where he chairs the Performers' Nite committee.

Peter seems to do a lot of comedic roles. It comes easily to him, but he has to guard against getting into it to much, laughing along with the audience (he calls it "the secret smile") since most of the comic parts he does end up being deadpan. When asked how he prepares for a role, he replied "Chapter 18 from Jerry Blunt's THE ART OF ACTING - actually a set of questionaires." If it's a historical piece, he tries to read something of a similar nature. His knowledge of books and literature is quite extensive, since for many years he has worked at bookstores.

Finally, since there is so much theatre here on the Peninsula, we asked him if he felt anything was lacking. He replied that there are plays from some historical periods that seem missing (despite Staff Players classical productions and a few others that are occasionally presented) - " Nobody does Jacobean plays and there are few Restoration plays - and little American theatre of the teens and twenties." Perhaps, as a result of his suggestion, we'll see some of these here in the future.