Department of THEATRE and DANCE

​PETE PARKIN has been teaching at Los Angeles Valley College since 1970. Pete was originally hired as Technical Director, and has taught everything in the curriculum except Theater History and Costuming.

 

Pete studied in the theatre department in the early 60’s with the likes of Tom Selleck, who appeared with Pete on our Lab Theater stage in Tennessee Williams' The Long Goodbye. After graduating from the Pasadena Playhouse College of Theatre Arts with an MFA he was hired in the mail room at NBC for $85 a week. Who says that a graduate degree is not worth anything?

 

“The Theater Department at Valley College is one of the best places for a young person interested in theater to begin serious studies. There is nothing that a student cannot do. Act, write, direct, design. You name it.”

 

In the Spring of 2010, after 40 years of teaching at LAVC, Pete officially retired. But, after a brief sojourn to the magical Southwest, he is back with us teaching as an adjunct and continuing to guide the vibrant Playwriting program which he established at Valley.