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. Jay and Squabbalogic were instrumental in acquiring and establishing Sydney’s prestigious Hayes Theatre Company, a home for musical theatre and cabaret which opened in 2014.
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.
Key recent credits include standby for Elder Cunningham in the original Australian cast of The Book of Mormon, an award-wining turn in Hayes Theatre Co’s She Loves Me, A Cheery Soul for Sydney Theatre Company, West Side Story for Opera Australia’s Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour, and the sell-out, one-man tour-de-force musical Herringbone, for which Jay co-directed and played 13 roles over 90 minutes to unanimous acclaim.
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 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!
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.
Jay has written 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-written 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 Caught Out, an original musical satire based on the Australian cricket team cheating scandal, co-written with Xavier Coy and Lloyd Allison-Young.
Jay conceived, co-wrote with Blake Erickson, and will direct The Dismissal, a major new musical in 2022, following a pandemic-affected planned premiere with Squabbalogic, Sydney Theatre Company and Canberra Theatre Centre in 2021.
Productions produced by Jay have amassed over 40 award nominations in the last ten years.