Theodore S. Peters

Theodore S. Peters, born William Theodore Peters on April 6, 1862, in Brooklyn, New York, was an American actor and poet who worked in both literary and theatrical circles on both sides of the Atlantic. He was the son of Dr. DeWitt Clinton Peters Sr., a lieutenant colonel and assistant surgeon on the United States Army Medical Staff, and Emily G. Peters, née Stoutenborough. His brother, DeWitt Clinton Peters Jr., was a noted artist.

Peters established himself as a figure within the 1890s decadent movement and counted the poet Ernest Dowson among his close associates. Dowson dedicated a poem to him, titled "To William Theodore Peters on His Renaissance Cloak." In October 1892, Peters commissioned Dowson to write what would eventually become the play The Pierrot of the Minute, intending to perform in it himself. Peters contributed an epilogue to the work, delivered by the character of Pierrot, which was later included in his own collection of verse, Posies Out of Rings and Other Conceits, published by John Lane and the Bodley Head in 1896. He was also a frequent guest of the Rhymers' Club.

As an author, Peters produced several works across different genres. His earliest publication, Tutti-Frutti: A Book of Child Songs, was co-authored with Laura Ledyard in 1881. He followed this with The Children of the Week in 1886, a children's book illustrated by Clinton Peters and published by Dodd, Mead, and Co. In 1894, Brentano's published his work The Tournament of Love, featuring drawings by Alfred Garth Jones, with music later composed for it by Noel Johnson. That same year, on May 8, 1894, the piece was performed at the Théâtre d'Application at 18 rue St. Lazare, with Peters himself playing the troubadour Bertrand de Roaix. His final listed publication, Arrière-Pensées: A Little Book of Merry Wisdom, appeared in 1901.

On the Broadway stage, Peters appeared in productions between 1900 and 1906. His credits included the play New York, the musical The Southerners, The Dress Parade, and the burlesque The Giddy Throng.

Peters died on April 18, 1905, at 29 rue Maurepas in Versailles, at the age of 43. Contemporary newspapers reported that he died of Bright's Disease, though some sources have attributed his death to poverty or starvation.