Jay Woods

Image shows Jay, a young looking white man with freckles and green eyes, wearing a black t-shirt with a silken grey overshirt. Image is from chest up, and their arms are crossed and they have a soft smile.

Jay (He/they) is a facilitator and creative theatre practitioner, with experience in designing and delivering workshops for different community groups, including within social care, criminal justice, and mental health settings. They have a particular interest in promoting accessibility and inclusivity within the arts, and believe in the power of theatre to bring about both personal and social change.

Who is Jay?

Actor

ANA-Actors logo, with an image to their website.
Logo for Spotlight, with a link to Jay Woods' CV

Jay studied acting at East 15 and since graduating has performed in a variety of shows and productions. Currently he is performing as Littlefield in Phantom Peak, which recently received a 5 star review from Broadway World. He is represented by the Actors Network Agency.

Writer

Jay also writes and performs poetry, and recently won the Septmeber Dreading Slam and qualified as a finalist for the Annual Dreading Grand Slam. He has also worked alongside Chia Phoenix and Lady Unchained to deliver spoken word and poetry workshops to youth offenders at Cookham Wood.

Facilitator

CV Icon

Jay studied Community Theatre at East 15, where he learnt how to facilitate theatre projects and workshops. He studied political theatre, forum and object theatre, site-specific performance, and devising within the community. He is also a Bronze and Silver Arts Awards Advisor.

An behind the scenes set image of Jay sat on a couch, facing a young woman with long hair. It is black and white. In the foreground you can see a man operating a camera, and in the background a woman with a clapper board.

Current Projects!

Collection of photos of cast performing the Mitten, and a collection of promotional material and articles about it.

I am working with Unpuzzled Theatre to deliver The Mitten, an interactictive show based on a Ukranian Folk Tale, made in response to the refugee crisis and in collaboration with Welcome to the UK. You can find me talking more about the project on BBC Essex Radio!

A screenshot of a social media post from Unpuzzled. At the top it reads "Really loved being on the show last night talking about The Mitten. Huge thank you to Jay Woods for setting this up and Rob at BBC Essex for having us on."
Photo of Unpuzzled Cast members smiling at camera, three people stood up, left to right: Victoria, James, Rosie. In front three crouched, left to right: Maryam, Annalena, Jay.
“ Children do not just sit in the audience and spectate, they are very much part of the show and work with the trained actor facilitators interactively. They become performers.”
— Victoria Jones, Company DIrector of Unpuzled Theatre, on The Mitten
A photo of a performance. Jay is dressed as Littlefield, the postmaster, behind a messy desk, talking to two people across.

I have been performing as Littlefield at Phantom Peak, an immersive theatre show co-founded by Creative Director Nick Moran (Co-writer and designer of Sherlock: The Game is Now with Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat.)

“The high standards we praised in our first review are still here, as is the highly impressive quality of improvisational acting.”
— Broadway World, Review of Phantom Peak: Summer Season
Photo of Jay and Lady Unchained smiling outside Cookham Wood.

I have been working on behalf of Icon to help deliver workshops for youth offenders in Cookham Wood. Previous projects include a spoken word and radio project lead by celebrated poet Lady Unchained. We are currently planning our next term of workshops, this time lead by Chia Phoenix.

“I’ve started to look for opportunities on the outside, and see that there is life after prison.”
— Participant, Cookham Wood Young People’s Theatre Programme
Photo from Patient is a Verb performance. Three members of stage, all in different poes: Left, in pink and pointing sideways; middle, in white and one arm raised whilst smiling; right, Jay in blue Nike, pointing a sword

I recently performed the role of Brick in Patient is a Verb by Burning Attic, a devised show based on interviews with 18 trans patients attempting to access healthcare.

“Andrew Houghton...Carly Halse, and Jay Woods fill the stage with their presence and portray distinctive ways that young people can deal with a traumatic waiting time for the GIC. ”
— West End Evenings, review of Patient is a Verb

Who has Jay worked with?

Peer Productions

Prior to drama school, Jay trained with Peer Productions on their one year actor development course. Since graduating, he has returned to work with them professionally as a workshop facilitator for a variety of projects, and has also helped them design the teacher pack for their play, ‘As I See It.” Most recently he worked for them as the lead on a project mentoring trans youth with SEND, designing, delivering, and evaluating the project.

Attic Theatre

He started working with Attic in collobration with Shine, in celebration of the Queen’s Jubilee. As part of the celebration, he assisted in facilitating primary school children to make their own short film for it,and was responsible for writing up the evaluation of the project. Since then he has occasionally returned to run drama workshops for them.

Icon Theatre & Theatre31

Jay started working with Icon as a assistant facilitator, helping to run and evaluate the weekly sessions for their youth theatre, before becoming part of their pool of lead facilitators. He is currently working with them to help deliver workshops within Cookham Wood Young Offenders Institute, in collaboration with Lady Unchained and Chia Phoenix.

Unpuzzled Theatre

Jay works as one of Unpuzzled’s freelancers, and has just recently finished performing in their interactive show, The Mitten, which explores the refugee crisis in a way that is accessible for children and their families. He also arranged an interview with BBC Essex to talk about this project.

Tic Box Productions

Jay is one of their freelance actors, helping them to deliver their forum theatre shows to young people across the country. He has most recently performed in their show Stronger Together, delivered to young people in a Pupil Referal Unit, which tackled misogny with a particular focus on incel culture.

Education Group

Jay is one of their freelance facilitators, delivering a variety of workshops and shows across the country in educational settings. Workshop topics have ranged from Mindfulness to Forensic Science, and he has had great fun being a ‘mad scientist’ conducting a variety of experiments in their Silly Science show!