Jay Eddy’s Digital Portfolio
from DRIVING IN CIRCLES
Driving in Circles is a new hybrid solo-ish show for solo performer and live band 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.
Premiered at Boston Playwrights’ Theatre in spring 2024, The Boston Globe named DRIVING one of the top 10 Boston theatre productions 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
“Aftershock” is the show’s opening number. This (imperfect, iPhone) recording was taken during a dress rehearsal for the Boston run. I was the lead performer and music director for the production (as well as book writer, composer, lyricist, and orchestrator for the piece itself) and worked in close collaboration with the director (Sam Plattus), supporting musicians (Jordan Palmer, Zach Fontanez), sound designer (Gage Baker), projection designer (Maria Servellón), lighting designer (Kevin Fulton), and set designer (Danielle DeLaFuente).
“2001” is the show’s fourth number. In-show context: at 17, Jay narrowly avoids a near-fatal collision on the highway and dissociates while their boyfriend panics in the passenger seat. Ten years later, Jay tries to make it through a normal day—getting out of bed, letting the dog out, doing laundry—through a similar fog of dissociation, one that unmoors them from the linear flow of time. They’re repeatedly thrown back to a night when they were 10-years-old, to their parents’ suburban basement where a movie is playing on the TV, to the first assault in what would become a decade long cycle of abuse.
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).
For further context on the above work samples, the performance text is available to read HERE
from ALLIGATOR-A-PHOBIA IN 3D!
Alligator-a-Phobia in 3D! was my MFA thesis at Boston University. I wrote the book, music, lyrics, and orchestrations, and music-directed and co-sound-designed my thesis production. That production was directed by Shamus McCarty. Gage Baker was my co-sound-designer, Slick Jorgensen was the lighting designer, Ami Okazaki was the scenic designer, and Michael O’Herron was the costume designer. Named characters were played by Leah Kreitz (Happy), Katherine Perry (Sweetness), Sam Plattus (Teeny), and Zach Fontanez (Big Mack).
“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.
For further context, the performance text is available to read HERE, and I have included a small selection of production photos below:
