Jef Petersen is a playwright, director, educator and sometimes actor. He currently lives on the border of Washington and Idaho in the beautiful area known as the Palouse. He holds a MFA in Playwriting and Directing from the University of Idaho and a MA in Theatre Arts with an emphasis in Playwriting Pedagogy from the University of Oregon. His plays have been performed around the country, and his play "An Elaborate System of Ropes and Pulleys" was performed as a fully staged reading in Emory University's Brave New Works Festival. His newest full-length, "The Edge of the Canyon", is based on true events from Canyon County, Idaho, where he grew up. His most performed play is "The Naked Play", which has amazingly been performed by casts who only meet for the first time when the play is performed. Petersen has directed a wide range of plays in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho, including: "The Dog in the Manger" by Lope de Vega, "Dead Man's Cell Phone" by Sarah Ruhl, "Ordinary Time" a new work by Sandra Hosking, and multiple devised and improvised shows. Jef practices and teaches the Meisner approach to acting. He has worked professionally as an improv actor in Oregon and Idaho but has been on a bit of an improv hiatus for the past three years. He is an avid painter and does it any chance he gets, which is not often enough. He is a bit of a bibliophile and has worked for two years with a master book binder where he has learned the craft of rebinding books so they can last another 100 years.