Artistic Director

Jessi May Stevenson

Jessi May Stevenson is the Artistic Director of the Santa Paula Theater Center, a role she has held for the past five years. She earned her MFA in Theater from UC Irvine as the recipient of the Chancellor’s Full Ride Scholarship and continued her training and performing at Harvard University with the Moscow Art Theater, the American Repertory Theater in Boston, and South Coast Repertory.

At SPTC, Jessi May has directed on the main stage for nearly a decade and, in 2020, founded the SPTC Acting Conservatory, where she serves as lead instructor for teen actors. She also teaches with The Muse of Fire Teen Acting Conservatory in Ojai and has led Shakespeare workshops at Ojai Valley Schools.

​As a performer, she created and starred in the one-woman show and short film Isn’t That Just My Life, which has been featured in 33 festivals worldwide and honored with 12 Best Actress Awards, a Silver Medal Acting Award, and a nomination for Best Original Idea. She also served as assistant director and played the role of Candy in the feature film Time Capsule, winner of multiple awards including Best Picture at the Dallas Movie Awards Festival. Her most recent SPTC role was Blanche in A Streetcar Named Desire.