James is a New York based producer, director, and educator with fifteen years of professional experience.
James has worked with Roundabout Theatre, The Old Globe, Long Wharf, Steppenwolf, The Public, Waterwell, NYU, Fordham, Mabou Mines, The Goodman, Victory Gardens, American Theater Company, Chautauqua Theatre, and Chicago Dramatists, among others.
For nine seasons he served as the Artistic Director of Chicago’s Red Tape Theatre. In 2010 he was awarded a Joseph Jefferson award for Best Direction of The Love of the Nightingale. He was the assistant to the Artistic Director at Steppenwolf Theatre and served on the Board of Directors at the League of Chicago Theaters.
James has recieved fellowships from Manhattan Theatre Club, the Drama League, SDCF, Chautauqua Theatre Company and is a Peter Kaplan Fellow. He holds an MFA in Directing from Brown University and is a full member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers union.
James teaches Acting and Voice and Speech at the Professional Performing Arts School in midtown Manhattan. He has taught directing and acting at NYU Tisch School of the Arts, Manhattan Youth, Trinity Repertory Company's as well as teaching Viewpoints and Suzuki at Red Tape Theatre in Chicago.
The space in which we work must be intercultural and intersectional. It is my ongoing practice to ensure an open and welcoming environment. There are many voices that have historically been marginalized and care must be given to allow those voices to speak and be heard. To be a better artist and to be a more complete human we must constantly check our biases and be responsible for the space we take up.