Ensemble Bios

Jay Turvey

In his twelfth season at the Shaw Festival, Jay Turvey will direct Trouble in Tahiti, as well as appear in Ragtime and Trouble in Tahiti.

Jay’s acting credits at The Shaw include Drama at Inish, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, One Touch of Venus, Sunday in the Park with George, Play, Orchestra, Play, Follies: In Concert, Wonderful Town, After the Dance, Mack and Mabel, Summer and Smoke, High Society, The Magic Fire, Happy End, Major Barbara, the title role in Floyd Collins, Man and Superman, The Plough and the Stars, Merrily We Roll Along, Caesar and Cleopatra, She Loves Me, and Easy Virtue. Jay also directed Trouble in Tahiti in the Musical Reading Series.

Jay is the co-writer of Maria Severa, the second musical by Jay Turvey and Paul Sportelli to appear at the Shaw Festival; in 2007, The Shaw presented Tristan. There are recordings of both Maria Severa and Tristan available at the Shaw Shop, at jaypaulproject.com, iTunes and cdbaby. Jay and Paul are also co-songwriters (and lead singer and keyboardist, respectively) for the pop group jaypaul project. As jaypaul project, they released two recordings: “j-paul” and “the story of my life”. These recordings are also available at the Shaw Shop, at jaypaulproject.com, at iTunes and cdbaby.

Jay and Paul have co-written four other musicals to date: Little Mercy’s First Murder, (with book and lyrics by Morwyn Brebner), received its world premiere at Tarragon Theatre in 2003. A co-production between the Tarragon Theatre and the Shaw Festival, it received seven Dora Awards. It was later produced in 2005 by Vancouver’s Touchstone Theatre and in 2006 by Calgary’s Vertigo Theatre. Step Right Up!, (written with Eric Woolfe), received its world premiere at Theatre Orangeville in 2008. nobody told me, a cycle of songs, received its first public performance in Toronto in 2009 at the Berkeley Upstairs Theatre, and Oracle, their most recent musical, is a work-in-progress that was presented at SummerWorks 2011 as part of Musical Works in Concert. Maria Severa received its European premiere in late 2011 in Krakow, Poland, translated into Polish, and directed by Tadeusz Bradecki.

Jay’s additional credits as a composer include The Babysitter (Theatre Direct); Sideshow of the Damned (Toronto SummerWorks); Music for Contortionist (Tarragon Theatre); Love Among the Russians, The Millionairess, and The Madras House (Shaw Festival).

Jay’s additional credits as an actor include Britt Craig/Governor Slaton in Parade (Acting Up Stage/Studio 180); Marius in Les Misérables (Toronto and Canadian/U.S. tour); Mendel in Falsettos (Followspot/Tarragon), for which he won a Dora Award; and Zazu in The Lion King (Toronto). In addition to the three roles he has played in Stephen Sondheim musicals at The Shaw, he has appeared in three Sondheim musicals outside of The Shaw: as George in Sunday in the Park with George (Equity Showcase Theatre); Side by Side by Sondheim (Canadian Stage); and A Little Night Music (The Grand Theatre/Canadian Stage). Other credits include two seasons at the Stratford Festival; Guys and Dolls: In Concert (National Arts Centre); Leslie Arden and Friends (Canadian Stage); The Cradle Will Rock (Equity Showcase); Miss Saigon (Toronto); and Cats (Toronto and Canadian tour).

Jay has also directed Carol Bolt’s One Night Stand and Leslie Arden’s The Greatest Gift at Talk Is Free Theatre.

Jay received an Honours Bachelor of Arts degree in French and English from McMaster University.