Work. An SDC director & choreographer with two decades of experience on creative and producing teams, I currently serve as Clinical Assistant Professor of Music Theatre and Director of Undergraduate Studies for the University at Buffalo’s Department of Theatre and Dance. I spent 10 years as a Producing Artistic Director, eight for the Timber Lake Playhouse and two for the Clinton Area Showboat Theatre. For three seasons I was with New York Stage And Film, supporting over 60 new works as Company Manager. I had the unique experience to serve as the lead project manager on the 2021 Broadway Reopening Project with MobileHealth, The Broadway League, The Shubert and Nederlander Organizations, Jujamcyn Theaters, Ambassador Theatre Group and Circle In The Square, as well over 35 producers and management companies working in 33 Broadway (and several more Off-Broadway) houses.
Vision. I think most great theatre is balancing act between the whimsical and the existential—simultaneously playful and thoughtful. I’m inspired by big stories about the survival of the human spirit in the face of seemingly impossible odds--whether in comedy, tragedy and somewhere in between. Or small stories that reveal the unexpected parts of characters’ lives and dignify our shared humanity. In spectacle or simplicity, humanity and truth are always at the center of my work. I believe my job is to connect the audience to the world of the story in order to go on the journey with the characters, and come back changed—or at least fulfilled. And hopefully, in doing so, we’ve helped to put some pieces of our world (and ourselves) back together.
I always strive to make the physical text of a production as essential as the script, score and designs. Theatre exists in time, and the reveal of the story to the audience must be polished. Stylistically—with my choreography background and immersive theatre experience—I tend to eschew walls in favor of sculptural sets that keep the body as the central storytelling element in the space. Conversely, I love precise details in sets and props. They give audiences behavioral context, and empathy comes from behavior.
Credits. Having worked on more than 200 productions over two decades, my directing and choreography credits include LORT, Off-Broadway, Regional, Summerstock, University and Industrial productions, as well as original concert dance works. World premieres: Mark Twain’s Blues (Off-Broadway) and Jason & Ben (NYMF). Original works: American Brahman, The Match Game, Chickamauga, Rite of Spring- Left of Center. I staged the Chicago premiers of Heathers the Musical (Jeff Award nomination), Murder Ballad (Jeff Award nomination) & Meet John Doe. Additional Chicago credits: Other Desert Cities, To Master The Art (Theatre of Western Springs), Aspects of Love, The Most Happy Fella and Pump Boys & Dinettes (Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre), Lucky Stiff and Triumph of Love (The Music Theatre Company), West Side Story (CUNY 50th Anniversary Production), Constellations, Chicago, Cats, Sunset Boulevard, Children of Eden, Big Fish, Titanic, Evita, Carousel, The Wedding Singer, Hair, as well as upcoming productions of Into The Woods and Sweeney Todd. I am a proud member of SDC (Stage Directors and Choreographers Society).
Education. I earned an MFA in Dance Performance and Choreography from Mills College in Oakland, California. My work focused on the influence of ballet, modern and social dance on the American Musical, and the use of dance in narratives of in-groups and outgroups, culminating in an original work, Rodgers & Hammerstien’s Xenophobia!. I trained as an actor and director at the Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute and hold a BA in Theatre from The College of Wooster.
Contact: jamespbeaudry@gmail.com
