DIRECTING
Stacee Willis is a Southern California-based theatre director, educator, and artistic leader whose work centers on thoughtful storytelling, strong ensemble collaboration, and creating immensely safe spaces where actors are encouraged to take risks, make bold choices, and grow.
As the Founder and Artistic Director of TCARiverside , Stacee has spent more than a decade directing and developing young performers through musical theatre. Her directing credits with TCA include productions of Frozen, Legally Blonde, Beauty and the Beast, Descendants, Annie, and numerous other musicals and theatrical programming. Through this work, she has developed an approach to directing that balances high artistic expectations with an actor-centered rehearsal process rooted in curiosity, collaboration, and play.
Her collegiate directing work began at California Baptist University with The Wizard of Oz in 2022. She returned to direct Little Women in 2025, and in Spring 2027, Stacee will direct Melanie Marnich's These Shining Lives.
Stacee holds an MFA in Theatre with an emphasis in Directing and Pedagogy from the University of Idaho and an MBA from the University of Redlands. She is currently completing her Ph.D. in Education at the University of Idaho, where her doctoral research explores the work of university theatre professors who also serve as directors and the artistic, educational, relational, and institutional balances inherent in that work.
Whether directing a musical, developing emerging performers, or working with university actors, Stacee approaches the rehearsal room as a place of discovery. She is particularly interested in character-driven work, musical theatre, new works, and stories that invite audiences to connect deeply with the people at their center.
