Pease's nickname in high school was "Zonker". She attended the North Carolina Governor's School of Drama in 1973. Later she was accepted into the North Carolina School of the Arts BFA program in the theater arts. Working her way through her freshman year, she was mentored by Broadway jazz dancer Mollie Murray and taught summer classes. She also performed as a jazz dancer for NCSA. She won the Governor's Scholarship for outstanding performance in both her junior and senior years. She played "a mean 12 bar blues" piano at a Winston-Salem supper club during the summer vacation to pay for her one-way bus ticket to New York City after graduation.