10/11/2026
CAST SPOTLIGHT!
James David West as Father Damien Karras
James David West is an award-winning actor whose work is built around a principle he calls “Follow The Why.” Behavior follows thought, and thought comes from somewhere. Why this thought, though? Why this choice? Why now? What changed? He follows those questions into the relationships, circumstances, and experiences that shape a person, allowing each moment to affect whatever comes next. In truth, Damien carries enormous emotional weight. Father Karras lives inside grief, guilt, love, crisis of faith, and the loss of certainty while everything he understands about himself and the world around him begins to crumble right before his eyes. That changes a person, and to JDW, what a character does with change is the most interesting thing to watch, whether on stage or in film. His hope is that audiences leave the theatre with a deeper understanding of the human condition, having recognized pieces of themselves woven throughout the story and within the lives of the people they have just experienced. Perhaps, in seeing their own lives reflected there, live theatre has changed them in ways they weren’t expecting. Angela, his wife, continues to support and believe in what they are creating together around all of this beautiful nonsense. That support runs deeper than simply making space for his artistry. It is choosing to build life with him, with the art woven in. And much love and gratitude to Joel and Ann, who brought him back to the theatre and, in doing so, helped save his life again
Credits:
Videography by James David West
Artwork by Jaymes Campbell
