James Morgan has served as the Producing Artistic Director of the York Theatre Company at St. Peter’s Church for the past 21 years. He also has worked as a scenic designer for productions not only at the York, but at various theatres on and Off-Broadway, as well as regional theatres across the country. Morgan was instrumental in the development of the York Theatre in its early years at the Church of Heavenly Rest, where he worked closely with founder Janet Hayes Walker as the company’s resident set and graphic designer. He has also designed for other Off-Broadway theatres such as The Irish Repertory Theatre, The 45^th Street Theatre, Actors’ Playhouse, Manhattan Theatre Club, Promenade Theatre, Circle in the Square Theatre, Theatre Four, and Perry Street Theatre. Morgan’s Off-Broadway design and producing credits include:  PACIFIC OVERTURES (1984), SWEENEY  TODD (1989), THE GOLDEN APPLE (1990), THE NIGHT LARRY KRAMER KISSED ME (1992), CARNIVAL (1993), MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG (1994), NO WAY TO TREAT A LADY (1996), THE SHOW GOES ON (1997), ROADSIDE (2001),PIGTOWN (2002), FINIAN’S RAINBOW (2004, 2016), THE MUSICAL OF MUSICALS (THE MUSICAL!) (2004), THRILL ME (2005), ENTER LAUGHING (2008), ARISTOCRATS (2009), MOLLY SWEENEY (2011), NEW GIRL IN TOWN (2012), CLOSER THAN EVER (2012), IONESCOPADE (2012), STORYVILLE (2013), INVENTING MARY MARTIN (2014), ROTHSCHILD & SONS (2015), CAGNEY (2015), TEXAS IN PARIS (2015),  DESPERATE MEASURES (2017). Morgan has also directed productions at the York Theatre at St. Peter’s Church including LINGOLAND (2005), PRODIGAL (1999) and TAKING A CHANCE ON LOVE (2000).

James Morgan grew up in Naples, Florida and attended the University of Florida where he studied Theatre and Set Design. In his high school years he became increasingly fascinated with Broadway musicals which had less-than-successful debut productions, and the travails they went through. Shortly after graduating, Morgan moved to New York and connected with Janet Hayes Walker, founder of the York Theatre at the Church of Heavenly Rest, where he discovered that she shared similar fascinations with under-appreciated shows. He worked at the theatre as the set and graphic designer while teaching at a private school in the building. Morgan also designed sets at various regional theatres around the country including the Cape Playhouse, Woodstock Playhouse, Flat Rock Playhouse, Caldwell Theatre Company, Hippodrome Theatre, Cincinnati  Playhouse, the Rep Theatre of St. Louis, Coconut Grove Playhouse, and many others. The York Theatre settled in St. Peter’s Church in 1992 and now follows an all-musical format (both new and classic, with much developmental work) under Morgan’s artistic direction. The York Theatre has a catalog of over 40 recordings of its work, and has also produced 110 smaller-scale productions as a part of its Musicals in Mufti Series (‘mufti’ means ‘in street clothes’).  Morgan has been nominated for a Drama Desk Award and Maharam/Hewes Design Awards, and is the winner of a Carbonell Award and a New Hampshire Theatre Award.