Tess James, photo by Jon Sweeney
(PRINCETON, NJ) -- Princeton University's Lewis Center for the Arts has named award-winning lighting designer Tess James as the new director of the University's Program in Theater and Music Theater. James, a lecturer in theater on the Princeton faculty since 2019, succeeds Jane Cox, who has led the program since 2016. James is currently associate director of the program and will be promoted to senior lecturer effective July 1.
"It will be a pleasure to work with Tess as the incoming director of the Program in Theater and Music Theater, and I am deeply grateful to Jane Cox for her dedicated, visionary, and transformative leadership of the program for 10 years," said Judith Hamera, chair of the Lewis Center. "Tess's record of artistic excellence, energetic and innovative teaching, and successful institution building, including the Princeton Production Workforce Training program, make her an outstanding candidate to succeed Jane in this important role."
"The Program in Theater and Music Theater, throughout the years, has opened up opportunities for students to ask bold questions, celebrate community, and engage with storytelling that reflects the complexities of our time," said James. "Our students are encouraged to take artistic risks and explore across disciplines, following their curiosity wherever it leads. I am so honored to have the opportunity, as the next director, to support the program as it shifts and evolves to meet the present moment and the needs of our students."
James is a theatrical designer and producer based in Hopewell, New Jersey. Her recent work as a lighting designer includes Felon at the San Quentin Correctional Institution and the Perlman Theater in New York City, horror writer Anne Rice's Celebration of Life at the Orpheum Theater in New Orleans, Legacy of Light at McCarter Theatre, Hay Fever at the Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia, and The Running Show with Monica Bill Barnes & Company in Singapore. Throughout her career she has worked with a wide range of prominent intuitions including New York City Opera, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Glimmerglass Opera, St. Ann's Warehouse, New York City Center, The Roundabout Theatre Company and the Sydney Opera House. James is a former adjunct professor at Brooklyn College and has guest lectured at New York University, Carnegie Mellon University, and Tisch School of Design, and she has been a featured panelist for the New Jersey Theater Alliance.
At Princeton, James has taught courses in lighting design, theatrical design, theatrical collaboration, and the interaction between dance and lighting. She has designed lighting for a number of Lewis Center theater and dance productions at the Berlind Theatre at McCarter Theatre Center and the Lewis Arts complex's theaters and studios. She has also served as co-producer for productions in the Lewis Center's Wallace Theater.
Last year, James launched the Princeton Production Workforce Development program, an initiative that provides four weeks of hands-on instruction in theatrical lighting, sound, safety, and workforce readiness to recent high school graduates. Designed to remove barriers to entry, the program supports the Lewis Center's commitment to providing opportunities for learning by preparing students from all backgrounds for in-demand careers in theater, dance, concert and film production.
Princeton's Program in Theater and Music Theater was launched in 1974.
Nearly 300 undergraduates enroll in more than 25 courses offered by the program each year taught by a distinguished faculty of working artists, critics, and scholars. Courses include writing, performance, directing, music directing, design, community engaged theater, dramaturgy, performance history, performance theory, and criticism. For committed students in pursuit of a minor, the program offers four suggested pathways through the curriculum: theater maker, music theater, performance studies, and community engaged theater. Free, skill-based co-curricular classes and workshops in performance, creation, music, design, and technology are also offered weekly throughout the semester to all Princeton students.
The program invites all students, regardless of their experience level, to participate in the creation, study, and performance of theater and music theater. Approaching theater as an intensely collaborative art form, the program particularly fosters the creation of original work by students and working with innovative professional artists. Through several theatrical partnerships and initiatives on campus and beyond, the program builds community inside and outside of the University.
The program's season of productions is driven by the theater minors. Juniors propose projects for their senior year, such as writing a new play or musical, directing, performing, designing, serving as dramaturgy, or stage management. A full-time team of professional production staff support the student season.
Currently the full-time faculty, in addition to James and Cox, includes Elena Araoz, Brian Herrera, Aaron Landsman, Chesney Snow, Lloyd Suh, Solon Snider Sway, Rhaisa Williams, and Stacy Wolf, along with more than 25 part-time faculty, visiting faculty, and co-curricular instructors.
Among the graduates of the program are Broadway producer Jordan Roth '97 (The Book of Mormon, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder, Kinky Boots, Jersey Boys); actors Mark Feuerstein '93 (Royal Pains), Karron Graves '99 (Coram Boy on Broadway, 1996 film version The Crucible), and Ellie Kemper '02 (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, The Office); acclaimed theater directors Lileana Blain-Cruz '06, Michelle Hensley '80 and Davis McCallum '97; and award-winning playwrights Noah Haidle '01 and Branden Jacobs-Jenkins '06.
Visit the Lewis Center website to learn more about the Program in Theater and Music Theater, the Lewis Center for the Arts, and the more than 100 public performances, exhibitions, readings, screenings, concerts, lectures, and special events presented by the Lewis Center each year, most of them free.
