Driving In Circles
Driving In Circles
Driving in Circles
WINNER: Richard Rodgers Award for Musical Theatre
American Academy of Arts and Letters
WINNER: Elliot Norton Award for Solo Performance
Boston Theater Critics Association
“raw & wrenching…a remarkable achievement”
The Boston Globe
“pulsating” & “enthralling”
Theater Mirror
“an emotionally-charged…road trip”
The Sleepless Critic
One of THEATER MIRROR and BAY WINDOWS top 10 shows of 2024
the show
Winner of the Jean Kennedy Smith & Musical Theatre Awards from The Kennedy Center
Workshop production with Boston Playwrights’ Theatre
additional support from: New England Foundation for the Arts, Connecticut Office of the Arts, New Jewish Culture Fellowship, Yaddo, New Harmony Conference
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 (think: WE’RE GONNA DIE meets HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH, or Mike Birbiglia with music). 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.
Approximate run time: 100 minutes.
Download the full script here
Download an excerpt here
Praise for the workshop production:
“propulsive score”
“a fusion of urgency & a ferocious eloquence”
“flashes of humor & warmth”
“There are times…when words burst out of Jay Eddy in such a headlong torrent that they seem to be racing one another to the end of the sentence. And there are times when the words emerge very slowly and deliberately, as if Eddy wants to underscore the effort it’s taken to translate this raw and wrenching story into theatrical terms. At either tempo, Eddy is a fiercely compelling performer. And Driving in Circles is a remarkable achievement.” - Don Aucoin, The Boston Globe
“powered by an astonishingly cool folktronica score”
“Eddy is an assured performer, alternately enraged, playful, and reflective, and their songwriting, orchestrations, and emotive voice make for as enjoyable a night of musical theater as you’re likely to experience this or any other year.” - Mike Hoban, Theater Mirror
“Eddy is a powerful, edgy, & expressive singer”
“Now here is something refreshingly different. Directed with energizing flair by Sam Plattus…Driving in Circles is essentially an emotionally-charged concert road trip through…events that have shaped Eddy’s life. It is powerful, sad, and disturbing at times, but is also hopeful, charming and lighthearted on this unpredictable road to healing…Eddy’s enthusiasm and interactive style is relatable, warm, sincere, and funny.” - The Sleepless Critic
Creative team for the workshop production:
written, composed, & performed by Jay Eddy
directed by Sam Plattus
Featuring Zach Fontanez & Jordan Palmer
Scenic Designer: Danielle DelaFuente
Lighting Designer: Kevin Fulton
Sound Designer: Gage Baker
Audio Engineer: Katie Chen
Costume Designer: Eric Tran
Projection Designer: Maria Servellón
Production Stage Manager: Fanni Horváth
Associate Director: Pamela Ross
Production Assistant: Sydney Love
the music
Who We Are
Who We Are
The EPs are an artistic partnership of more than a decade primarily focused on making music theater at the intersection of fine and folk art. With a do-it-yourself ethic rooted in the intimacy of oral tradition and an absurdist spirit that embraces neuroqueer practices and aesthetics, we tell stories in active conversation with our audience and with the world around us. We try to leave the theater door open for magic as for Elijah at the seder.
Sam Plattus is a neuroqueer and non-binary artist whose work embraces liminality and muddle, celebrates queer minds and bodies, and encourages audience complicity; they believe in revealing how the magic trick is done, eliminating the barrier of spectacle, and allowing the audience to wonder at the story rather than the effect. Their work has been described as being “an intimately affecting laboratory,” “staged with unlimited inventiveness,” and “brutal and brilliant.” Sam’s work has been supported by the Connecticut Office of the Arts, The New England Foundation for the Arts, The Barn Arts Collective, and The Dragon’s Egg. They are an MFA candidate in Directing at Brooklyn College, and a graduate of Bowdoin College.
Jay Eddy is a writer, composer, and performer. Their solo show Driving in Circles won the Richard Rodgers Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, as well as the Jean Kennedy Smith Playwriting Award and Musical Theatre Award, both from the Kennedy Center. They are a recent New Harmony resident, Yaddo fellow, Jonathan Larson Grant finalist, New York Foundation for the Arts fellow, and Connecticut Office of the Arts fellow. Their work for the stage has been called, “Bracingly original, astonishingly resourceful, and daringly theatrical,” and, “a joy to listen to...a beautiful tapestry of sound.” As a performer, they’ve been called, “Kate McKinnon on a cocaine bender.” MFA in Playwriting at Boston University, MA in Music Theatre from The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.