Petrea Burchard.
How do you say that?

I was bitten by the acting bug at the age of four, in a play my mother wrote for us to perform at the mother/daughter banquet at church.

It wasn't long before the writing bug bit as well. I wrote The Story of the Little Pumpkin, cleverly subtitled The Story of the L.P., when I was six.

Since then I've looked for ways to synthesize writing and performing, and as an improviser at The Second City, I got paid to do so for the first time. In Chicago I premiered leading roles at the Victory Gardens Theater and said a few lines on the Steppenwolf stage. In LA I've done lots of TV and film; my acting resume is here.

My story Things appears in the collection A Cup of Comfort for Christmas, (Adams Media). My spec episode for Scrubs won honorable mention in the 72nd Writer’s Digest competition. I've published monologues for actors at TheMonologueShop.com, and an article at AbsoluteWrite.com.

I've appeared (aloud) around Los Angeles at Tasty Words and other spoken word venues, doing that performing/writing synthesis thing. My humor column, Act As If, flips the adverbial bird at the acting business monthly in the Actors Ink e-zine at NowCasting.com. Sign up with NowCasting to read all the archived columns, or read selected columns archived on this website.

And check out a passage from my novel-in-progress, Real Camelot.

My husband and I live in southern California with our dog, Boz. My work is fun, but I do have one hobby.