Jay Eddy’s Digital Portfolio
from DRIVING IN CIRCLES (performer-composer / creator)
Driving in Circles is an evening-length work for solo performer (and live band—though it was performed totally solo at Edinburgh Fringe) traversing the highway between confessional monologue, stand-up comedy, and rock concert. Set to a sometimes whispering, sometimes screaming folktronica score, DRIVING traces the aftermath of intimate violence—mapping our hero’s darkly funny, deeply felt, defiantly hopeful journey through the bodymind-altering landscapes of trauma towards something like happiness. DRIVING interweaves live performance and video projection, live music and tracked sounds, present meaning-making and past remembrances, and putting the show together was an exploration in the collaborative re-authoring of stories of abuse as a means towards personal and communal healing.
Premiered at Boston Playwrights’ Theatre in spring 2024, The Boston Globe named DRIVING one of the top 10 Boston shows of 2024
WINNER: Richard Rodgers Award (American Academy of Arts and Letters)
WINNER: Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Solo Performance (Boston Theater Critics Association)
WINNER: Jean Kennedy Smith & Musical Theatre Awards (Kennedy Center)
additional support from New England Foundation for the Arts, Connecticut Office of the Arts, New Jewish Culture Fellowship, Yaddo, New Harmony Project, Dragon’s Egg, Improv Acadia Presents
finalist for Best Musical at Edinburgh Fringe Festival
upcoming New York run slash concert film, directed by Kimberly Senior (HBO’s CAREER SUICIDE) and produced by the team behind Bo Burnham’s INSIDE, Jerrod Carmichael’s ROTHANIEL, and THE BEAR
“2001” is a recording from the concept album of DRIVING. I am the performer and composer, as well as the producer on the track. This recording was completed in 2025.
Please note: this is the live performance score for the 2024 Boston production, and it does not correspond perfectly to the album recording (e.g. different time signature, different ending).
“The World Is Ending Anyway” is a recording from the concept album of DRIVING set to original hand-drawn animations. I am the performer and composer, as well as the producer on the track and animator on the video. This video and recording are from 2025.
Please note: this is the live performance score for the 2024 Boston production, and it does not correspond perfectly to the album recording.
“Aftershock” is the show’s opening number. This (imperfect, iPhone) recording was taken during a dress rehearsal for the Boston run. I am the lead performer in the video. This recording was taken in 2024.
For further context on the above work samples, the performance text is available to read HERE
from ALLIGATOR-A-PHOBIA IN 3D! (composer / creator)
Alligator-a-Phobia in 3D! is an evening-length work and my MFA thesis from Boston University. I wrote the book, music, lyrics, and orchestrations, and music-directed and co-sound-designed my thesis production in 2023.
“My Swamp-land Home” is the show’s opening number. This is an in-progress demo recording; additional vocals provided by Sam Plattus, production and all remaining performance is my own work. This recording was made in 2024.
“An Alligator in the Wild / Songbird and the Alligator” is an in-progress demo recording; additional vocals provided by Sam Plattus, production and all remaining performance is my own work. This recording was made in 2024.
For further context on the above work samples, the performance text is available to read HERE, and I have included a small selection of production photos below.
RESEARCH SAMPLE
I am including the opening chapters of my thesis for the MA in Music Theatre at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. READ HERE.
Date of submission: August 2012
Format: text-based research paper (~12,000 words) & composition of original opera
Because I completed my MA Thesis more than 10 years ago—and my MFA thesis, while it did include a research component, did not include a written research paper—I am including also a short article I wrote more recently towards the completion of my MFA degree. READ HERE.
Date of submission: December 2020
Format: text-based research paper (~4,000 words) & translation/adaptation of full-length play with original score.