Pedro James Vásquez is a Mexican American San Diego native and award winning national director of theatre.

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Recent work includes the Signature Theatre’s record breaking production of Lin Manuel Miranda’s In the Heights, included in the Washington Post’s Top 10 of D.C. and New York stages as the top ranked musical.

 

He is a Resident Artist of The Old Globe Theatre, where his production of Hair reopened the Old Globe stages in 2021 to critical acclaim. He also directed the world premieres of American Mariachi and Under a Baseball Sky, the West Coast premieres of Tiny Beautiful Things and Hurricane Diane, as well as Merry Wives of Windsor and The Comedy of Errors on the outdoor Lowell Davies Festival Stage.  James directs the annual holiday hit Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas.  This past holiday he premiered a Spanish translation of the show in a 2 night sold out staged concert event.  

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His other recent directing/choreography credits include the world premiere of Sandy Rustin’s Always Something There, Damn Yankees (Marriott Theatre), Cabaret (Goodspeed Musicals), In the Heights (Cleveland Playhouse, Dallas Theater Center), American Mariachi (Denver Center for the Performing Arts Theatre Company, Two River Theatre Company), Dr. Seuss's The Lorax (as associate director; Children's Theatre Company), The Addams Family and Chicago (Moonlight Stage Productions), West Side Story and Cats (San Diego Musical Theatre), the West Coast premiere of [title of show], Pippin, and Next Fall (Diversionary Theatre), and Hedwig and the Angry Inch and Pageant (Cygnet Theatre Company), as well as developmental workshops at the La Jolla Playhouse, South Coast Repertory Theatre, Goodspeed Musicals and Lively McCabe.

 

Vásquez is an amateur gardener, lover of dogs, and graduate of The Juilliard School.