Paige Cameron Dirkes-Jacks (she/they) is an opera director, singer, and teaching artist whose work has been called "meticulous in details of direction" and "visceral and moving." As an opera artist with a background in children’s theatre, small-scale theatre, and toy theatre, she is specifically passionate about making opera accessible to all by rethinking what it can be. A native to the Chicago area, they enjoy working at the intersection of the city's storefront theatre and opera scenes, directing for companies like Thompson Street Opera (Forever, Wet Dirt, The Boy Who Wanted to Be A Robot), and Ouroboros Opera (La Femme Bohème, Bluebeard's Castle), as well as assistant and associate directing for larger houses like Lyric Opera of Chicago (Frida Kahlo and the Bravest Girl in the World) and the Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company of Chicago (Ruddigore, H.M.S. Pinafore). When not directing or singing, Paige teaches with Lyric Opera of Chicago and Mudlark Theatre Company. In 2023 she was named a member of the International Teaching Artist Collaborative's Young and Emerging Leaders Forum, and this summer she joined the Music Academy of the West Lehrer Vocal Institute as their directing fellow in Santa Barbara, California. She holds a Bachelor of Music in vocal performance and opera as well as a certificate in musical theatre from the Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University.