Based in New York City, James is a designer, performer, playwright and director who recently earned the 2022 Drama desk award for his enormous DINOSAUR puppets from LINCOLN CENTER’s tony nominated production of the skin of our teeth.

Additionally, his interpretation of Milky White in the 2022 Broadway revival of Into The Woods has become a fan favorite and viral sensation. However, James is probably most known for his off-Broadway creation, The Woodsman, that earned him a 2016 OBIE award for puppet design. Previous credits include: The Public Theatre, Hartford Stage, PaperMill Playhouse, Yale Rep, Carnegie Melon University, Dallas Theatre Center, Theatre for a New Audience, Tectonic Theatre Co, Shakespeare Theatre of DC, the Kennedy Center, Opera Saratoga, Soho Rep, Naked Angels, Skylight Music Theater, New World Stages, Ars Nova, and 59e59.

James was the 2017 Eugene O'Neill residency recipient, 2015 and 2019 Jim Henson foundation Grant awardee and Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director of the devised theatre group, Strangemen & Co. A taping was made for PBS of The Woodsman, which is currently available for streaming on Amazon Prime via BroadwayHD.

As an actor, credits include The Woodsman (New World Stages), El Gato Con Botas (Tectonic Theatre Co.), On the Head of a Pin (Strangemen), Rhinoceros (UglyRhino Theatre Co.), Wanda's Monster (Making Books Sing). As of 2020, James is set to debut his adaptation of Leonard Bernstein’s CANDIDE for Skylight Music Theatre in Wisconsin, tentatively slated for its 2023 season. He continues to develop several original and adapted works that incorporate his particular blend of theatricality, movement theatre and puppetry.