Jess is a queer, neurodivergent director and theatre maker, and 2023 graduate from the MFA Directing course at the National Institute of Dramatic Art.

Jess finds themself continuously drawn to new work, thriving in the challenge and unknown of creating brand new worlds. Music, sound, movement, and colour are vital elements of Jess’ work; as a grapheme-colour synesthete these elements act as the life force of a play and provide deep emotional storytelling.

For their graduating production at NIDA, Jess wrote and directed The Decay of Lying. Synthesising dialogue, live musicians, and film, this piece is an interdisciplinary interpretation of Oscar Wilde’s essay of the same name, responding to one of his key arguments, “Life imitates Art far more than Art imitates Life.”

At NIDA, Jess also directed the music video The Job I Took by Sophisticated Dingo (NIDA x Triple J Unearthed) which premiered live on Rage; Caryl Churchill’s short play Not Enough Oxygen (NIDA x ACA); and assistant directed a live cinema adaptation of Chekhov’s The Seagull, under the direction of Dr Benjamin Schostakowski. 

Jess graduated in early 2019 with a Diploma of Musical Theatre from the Australian Institute of Music. After graduating, they were involved in the creation of new works as a performer, writer, artist, and assistant director and in 2021 Jess directed their debut production Alice, a new Australian musical.