Ellie Jay
Stevens
THEATRE DIRECTOR & PRACTITIONER
ABOUT ELLIEEllie is a theatre director, founder and Artistic Director of Dark Skies Ensemble, and Associate Director of Fox & Hound Theatre Company. Originally from Castle Douglas, Dumfries & Galloway, she holds an MA in Drama Directing from Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and a First Class Honours degree in Drama and Performance from Queen Margaret University. After four years living and working in Bristol, Ellie returned to Dumfries & Galloway in 2025.
Girl in the Machine
2022
A Trio of Tennessee Williams
2023
SnapGram Dorian Grey
2022
EXPERIENCEEllie develops ambitious theatre led by bold design, new writing and female-centred perspectives. She has a keen interest in gritty, thought-provoking stories that leave audiences talking about the characters over a pint in the bar after the show, and still discussing the bigger questions on the walk home.
Her directorial credits include The Strongest Girl in the World, winner of Entertainment Now’s WOW Award for Best Play at the Edinburgh Fringe 2023 and later selling out at 59E59 Theaters in New York in 2025; How You Died, which played two sold-out London runs and was named Everything Theatre’s Best Play of Camden Fringe 2024; and A Trio of Tennessee Williams, which has toured extensively across the UK, including Greenwich Theatre, Oxford Playhouse and Assembly Roxy, Edinburgh. Other credits include Hindsight, performed at the Scottish Parliament in 2024; Girl in the Machine at the Wardrobe Theatre, Bristol; and Pigment of Your Imagination at the Pleasance, London.
Ellie is currently creating and directing TAM: A New Scottish Musical, a bold new reimagining of Robert Burns’ Tam o’ Shanter, developed towards its premiere at Dumfries & Galloway Arts Festival in 2027.
“Taken together, and with the support of Ellie Jay Stevens’ emotionally intelligent directing throughout, the pieces make for a compelling, impressionistic look at control and entrapment that lingers long after the actors leave the stage.”
PHILOSOPHYEllie believes that brilliant work comes from rehearsal rooms where people feel able to be brave, curious and creatively ambitious. Her directing practice is collaborative and empathetic, drawing on the different experiences and instincts of the people in the room to create distinctive, heartfelt performances.
Alongside her professional directing practice, Ellie developed and led the Actor Development programmes at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and holds certificates in both Cultivating an Inclusive Theatre Making Environment and Increasing Understanding of Autism. She has also worked with organisations including Paragon and Performance Collective Stranraer, and is passionate about making theatre and creative opportunities more accessible.
“Ellie Jay Stevens’ sublime direction brings empathy to each character. Stevens [...] manages all elements of the play with the aplomb of a seasoned theatre director.”
Bristol 24/7, 'Because We Said We Would' 2022