Jim Helsinger: About the Artist

Click here to listen to his interview.

Jim Helsinger’s directing credits for Orlando Shakes include West Side Story, Monty Python’s Spamalot, The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, The Adventures of Pericles, Henry V, Titus Andronicus, Cymbeline, Tartuffe, Crime and Punishment, Macbeth, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and others. Other directing credits include: Prague Shakespeare Company (Dracula: The Journal of Jonathan Harker), Colorado Shakespeare Festival (Much Ado About Nothing), Actor’s Theatre of Louisville (A Tuna Christmas), Florida Studio Theatre (Good Evening), Cape May Stage (Stones in His Pockets), Florida Repertory Theatre and Actor’s Playhouse (The 39 Steps), Flatrock Playhouse (The Hound of the Baskervilles) and Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival (The Foreigner, Lend Me A Tenor). As an actor, he has performed in the title roles of Cyrano de Bergerac, Hamlet, Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde, Dracula, and Henry V. Television credits include From the Earth to the Moon; Sheena, Queen of the Jungle; and Mortal Kombat. As a playwright, his adaptations include Robinson Crusoe; A Christmas Carol; Dracula: The Journal of Jonathan Harker; Frankenstein, The Modern Prometheus; and The Trial of Joan the Maid. He is a member of Actor’s Equity Association, National Theatre Conference, The National New Play Network, and is the Past President of the Shakespeare Theatre Association. He holds a BA from Miami University (Ohio) and an MFA from the University of Alabama Professional Actor Training Program. Jim currently serves as the Artistic Director at Orlando Shakes.