Lenard Petit is a director/actor who resides in New York City. He has been working in the theater for thirty years collaborating with other artists to create original works for the stage, cinema, and television. He has performed in works of such notable directors as Julie Taymor, Meredith Monk, Richard Foreman, Ping Chong, and many others.

Mr. Petit is the Artistic Director of The Michael Chekhov Acting Studio. As one of a handful of teacher students trained by the original members of Michael Chekhov’s Theater School his knowledge of the technique coupled with his gifts have brought him to be recognized as one of the foremost teachers of this technique in the world. As a member of the international Michael Chekhov Association, he has been invited to teach Master classes at the Moscow Art Theater, The International School for Film and Television in Munich, Helsinki University, as well as acting workshops in Denmark, Amsterdam, Berlin, Zurich, London, Riga and Irkutsk Siberia. For the past 20 years he has been teaching Chekhov Technique in the MFA and BFA Acting programs at Rutgers University.

Mr Petit is the author of The Michael Chekhov Handbook; for the Actor, published by Routledge Press. His direction of The Frog Bride was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Unique Theatrical Experience in 2006.