Bio
Jay James-Moody is an award-winning actor, director, writer and producer. Jay is the creator and Artistic Director of acclaimed boutique company Squabbalogic Independent Music Theatre - one of Australia’s premier producers of intimate musical theatre. Squabbalogic provides a stage for Australia’s finest emerging and established artists to present exciting and dynamic music theatre works while nurturing a fun, inclusive professional creative environment.
From its founding in 2006, Squabbalogic filled a void by connecting with challenging work and writers in musical theatre often neglected by mainstream companies and sharing it with an audience eager to experience an alternative to large-scale spectacles. The work of Jay and Squabbalogic, and as a co-founder of Sydney’s prestigious Hayes Theatre Co, directly resulted in the last decade of exciting new independent music theatre in Sydney.
Jay professionally debuted in Jerry Springer The Opera at the Sydney Opera House and is the recipient of a
2022 Mike Walsh Fellowship for producing.
Jay has collaborated on theatrical works with such diverse organisations as NIDA, WAAPA, AIM, Kings Cross Theatre, Opera Australia, Merrigong Theatre Company, Sydney Theatre Company, New Mardi Gras, Darlinghurst Theatre Company, the Seymour Centre, Sydney Opera House, Noosa Long Weekend, Royal Caribbean Cruises, City of Sydney, New Musicals Australia, the Sydney Fringe Festival, and Sydney Philharmonia Choirs.
Jay most recently conceived, co-wrote, directed and produced the world premiere musical The Dismissal and directed The Golden Age of Broadway for Sydney Philharmonia Choirs and the Sydney Opera House’s 50th Anniversary celebrations.
Jay wrote Straight From The Hart, a solo work for Blake Bowden; The Day of the Triffids, adapted for the stage from John Wyndham’s novel; co-wrote the book of a musical adaptation of Good Omens (with Vicki Larnach and Jim Hare) based on the best-selling novel by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman; and co-wrote Caught Out, an original musical satire based on the Australian cricket team cheating scandal, co-written with Xavier Coy and Lloyd Allison-Young. He also revised and adapted Alan Jay Lerner and Burton Lane’s On A Clear Day You Can See Forever.
Key performance credits include Squabbalogic’s On A Clear Day You Can See Forever; Ensemble’s A Christmas Carol; Switch Witchety's Almanac of Everything for Pinwheel Productions at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe; his sell-out, one-man tour-de-force musical Herringbone; Hayes Theatre Co’s She Loves Me; West Side Story for Opera Australia’s Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour; and was standby for Elder Cunningham in the original Australian cast of The Book of Mormon.
Additional credits include Twelfth Night and Romeo & Juliet (Sport for Jove), A Midsummer Nights Dream (STC), Nine, Of Thee I Sing, Man Of La Mancha, Bye Bye Birdie, The Drowsy Chaperone, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, Ordinary Days, A New Brain, [title of show] and Reefer Madness (Squabbalogic), A Year With Frog and Toad (Ensemble), and The Venetian Twins (New Theatre).
Directing credits include On A Clear Day You Can See Forever, Nine, Herringbone (with Michael Ralph), Straight From The Hart, Bring It On, The Original Grease, Grey Gardens, Hello, Dolly! (with Dean Vince), Triassic Parq, Man Of La Mancha, Bye Bye Birdie, Sondheim on Sondheim, The Drowsy Chaperone, Carrie, [title of show] (with Daniel Jacobs), Thrill Me, Forbidden Broadway, Reefer Madness, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, and Tick… Tick… BOOM!
Works produced and directed by Jay through Squabbalogic have amassed over 40 excellence award nominations, winning a few.
Jay received Sydney Theatre Awards for both Director and Actor in The Drowsy Chaperone, and nominations for Actor and Co-Director for Herringbone, Supporting Actor for She Loves Me, Director for Man of La Mancha, as well as Best Musical nominations for his productions of Carrie, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, The Drowsy Chaperone, and Herringbone. Jay was awarded GLUG awards for Musical for Man of La Mancha and Supporting Actor for She Loves Me.