Dr Sarah Peters

Senior Lecturer in Drama

College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences

place Humanities
GPO Box 2100, ADELAIDE, SA, 5001

Dr Sarah Peters (she/her) is Senior Lecturer in Drama at Flinders University and book reviews editor for Australasian Drama Studies. Sarah is a playwright and theatre practitioner specialising in verbatim theatre and community-engaged theatre making. She was a commissioned writer on State Theatre Company South Australia and ActNow’s 2020 Ruby Award winning project Decameron 2.0, and Theatre Republic’s 2023 Future:Present project.Her verbatim plays (published online with Australian Plays Transform) engage with communities to tell the shared stories of experience, such as women living with Alopecia in bald heads & blue stars (2014), young people navigating mental health and wellbeing in twelve2twentyfive (2015) growing up in rural communities in Eternity (2017) and pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago looking for belonging in Blister (2019). Her research investigates collaborative theatre making processes within an ethic of care, dramaturgies of theatre based on lived experiences, and the socio-political and inter-personal outcomes of arts engagement for community participants. Her co-authored monograph, Verbatim Theatre Methodologies for Community-Engaged Practice was published with Routledge in 2023, and her most recent play An Incomplete Encyclopedia of Hugs was produced by South Australian Playwrights Theatre in 2024 and Conundrum Theatre (Singapore) in 2025. 

Qualifications

Doctor of Philosophy, University of Southern QLD, 2016

Acting Masterclass with Matt Scholten, Empire Theatre Toowoomba, 2016

Small Screen Masterclass - screenwriting with Linden Wilkinson, Springfield, 2015

Master of Arts - awarded with distinction, University of Southern QLD, 2012

Verbatim Theatre Masterclass with Alana Valentine, Sydney Theatre Company, 2012

Bachelor of Drama/Bachelor of Education - awarded with distinction, University of Southern QLD, 2007

Honours, awards and grants

CHASS Group Award for Excellence in Teaching, 2024

CHASS Individual Award for Excellence in Teaching, 2022.

CHASS Early Career Research Excellence Award, 2020.

Veronica Kelly Prize for Best Postgraduate Paper, Australasian Association for Theatre, Drama and Performance, 2015

1st Place in Pitch Club Challenge, University of Southern QLD, 2015

Australian Postgraduate Award, 2013

Geoffrey Milne Bursary, Australasian Drama Studies Association, 2013

Bid O'Sullivan Teaching Scholarship, 2004

Key responsibilities

Research Section Head: Creative and Performing Arts (2022-2023)

NTRO committee chair (2022-present)

Book Reviews Editor Australasian Drama Studies (2021-present)

Equal Opportunity Contact Officer CHASS (2021-2022)

Topic coordinator
DRAM3016 Community Engaged Arts Practice
DRAM2200 Adaptation and Audiences
DRAM1100 Acting Fundamentals
DRAM3100 Artist as Researcher
DRAM3106 Dramaturgy and New Writing
Recite Me accessibility and Language Support