James (he/him) is a director, educator, actor, and the Co-Artistic Director of both the St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival and Toronto’s Shakespeare BASH’d.
He believes outdoor theatre is a Canadian birthright and relishes the opportunity to create magical theatre right on the St. Lawrence River with SLSF.
For BASH’d, James has played the title roles in Hamlet, Richard III, Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew, and Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing. With BASH’d, James directed over a dozen productions and staged readings.
James spent four seasons at the Stratford Festival. He was a member of the Michael Langham Workshop for Classical Directing, assistant directing Macbeth, the world premiere of Bunny by Hannah Moscovitch, Romeo and Juliet, and Julius Caesar. Additionally, James worked with the Birmingham Conservatory and co-created and co-directed Play On! A Shakespeare Inspired Mixtape for the Festival’s 2021 season.
His other directing credits include: Sherlock Holmes and the Vanishing Hour, The Tempest (SLSF), As You Like It (Theatre by the Bay), Titus Andronicus (Hart House Theatre), Antony and Cleopatra (Secret Shakespeare Project), Scenes from The Tempest (Playing for Free), Henry IV Part 1 and 2 (Theatre Erindale), Romeo and Juliet and Joni (Workshop Production), Pygmalion, The Revenger’s Tragedy, The Duchess of Malfi (Toronto Metropolitan University), Romeo and Juliet (YES Theatre/Sudbury Theatre Centre), and Romeo and Juliet (George Brown Theatre School).
James has been an instructor of classical, contemporary, and Shakespearean acting at Toronto Metropolitan University, U of T Mississauga, and Randolph College for the Performing Arts.