Born in 1953, Jaz Dorsey is a native of Atlanta, Ga. He began his acting career at the age of 13 in Ashville, North Carolina, when his first paying job in life was a role in Bertolt Brecht's CAUCASIAN CHALK CIRCLE.
Dorsey did his undergraduate studies in International Studies at UNC Chapel Hill. He studied German and French, with a heavy emphasis on dramatic literature. In 1975 he received a scholarship to the University of Goettingen in West Germany. During his year abroad he made many friends in the performing arts and spent as much time in greenrooms as he did in classrooms, beoming familiar with the amazing theater system of the Federal Republic of Germany. In 1978 he became assistant to set designer Richard Thomas Pike and was recruited to pioneer the graduate degree program in Dramaturgy at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Va. While there he also served on the faculty, teaching the history of dramatic literature.
In 1980 he returned to his home town of Atlanta and served briefly as the assistant to the Artistic Directors at The Alliance Theater. After leaving The Alliance he freelanced as dramaturg, actor, director, producer and playwright-composer/lyricist. He also used his background in International Studies to raise money for various productions of European plays, working with the governments of Germay, France, Sweden and Quebec.
In 1988 his musical ALICE IN AMERICA was produced in New York as part of the annual meeting of The Lewis Carol Society of North America. Through this production he developed strong connections in NYC and began producing readings and off off Broadway plays. He made his New York acting debut in 1989 in CURIOUS PEOPLE by Lemuel Perry Borden.
In 1990, Dorsey was cast in a national tour of Moliere's BOURGEOIS GENTILHOMME, a bilingual French/English prodcution which performed for high school language classes across the US. This tour was produced by The National Theater of the Performing Arts. Coming off tour he assumed the positon of production coordinator for the company, a positon which he held from 1990 - 1997. During these years he also produced over 50 readings, staged readings, workshops and off off Broadway productions and enjoyed numerous productions of his own musicals. In 1997, ALICE IN AMERICA was made in to a film by Bonnie Comely, who went on to become one of the producers of THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE.
In 1996 he was approached by NY playwright Bernice Lee to serve as composer and co-lyricist for her musical NELLIE, based on the life of America's first female investivgative journalist, Nellie Bly. NELLIE premiered at the Greenwich Street Theater in 1997 and went on to an Equity showcase production at The Lambs Theater on Times Square in 1999. Plans for a Nashville production of NELLIE are currently underway.
In 1999, Dorsey moved to Nashville, making his Nashville acting debut at TPAC in Circle Players production of GYPSY in 2000. In 2002 he mounted a production of Harvey Fierstein's TORCH SONG TRILOGY at the Darkhorse. The production starred actor Mark Middleton, better know as Bianca Paige, and sold out the entire three weekend run before opening. Subsequently, Dorsey founded The Southern Writers Theater and mounted 8 consecutive productions at The Gaslight on 8th Avenue, including a country music version of Strindberg's MISS JULIE, a Halloween vaudeville entitled GHOSTS OF NASHVILLE and a highly successful production of his own musical SONGS FROM THE CAFE ESCARGOT. In 2003 he produced the world premiere of Bernice Lee's RACHEL at the Donelson Senior Center for the Arts. RACHEL tells the story of Rachel Jackson, one of the first settlers of Nashville, wife of Andrew Jackson and mistress of The Hermitage. Working with actress Susan Howe, he also invited The Public Theater of Kentucky to bring their production of FUDDY MEERS to the Darkhorse in April, 2004.
In 2004 he began contributing a column called Theater Voice to Tennesse Style Magazine. Beginning in 2005 Theater Voice also began appearing in Kaine Riggan's theater publication Nashville Stages. He also founded The Dramaturgy Project to offer audience development and public relations support to Nashville theaters. Dorsey is currently the Director of Development for Collards and Caviar Productions (Eugenia Sweeny, artistic director) and holds the same position with The Southern Appalachian International Film Festival in Johnson City, Tennessee (www.soapiff.com) In January he cofounded the African American Playwrights Exchange with Barry Scott of Tennessee State University. Since it's initiation on January 1, 2007, AAPEX has built a registery of 85 African American playwrights from across the United States.
You can reach him here.
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