Jim Betts

Jim Betts (Co-Producer)

Jim Betts is an award-winning playwright and composer who loves writing, and celebrating, Canadian Musical Theatre. His Canadian themed musicals include Colours In The Storm (about Tom Thomson), The Shooting Of Dan McGrew, Lucy Maude & Anne, Extraordinary (The Extraordinary Life Of An Ordinary Woman), The Fabulous Kelley, and the upcoming Bluenose (written with composer John Estacio). He has also produced Stan Rogers • A Matter Of Heart, and published the Canadian Musical Theatre song collections, Field Of Stars. He is a former Artistic Director of Smile Theatre, Theatre Orangeville and ScriptLab, and started the Canadian Musical Theatre course at Sheridan College. Last summer the new musical, Dancer (A Musical in Ten Furlongs), with book and lyrics by Jim and music by Marek Norman, won the Adams Prize for New Musical, which earned them a spot in the 2023 Toronto Fringe Festival. The show, produced by Jim and his wife Kate Barris, was a Fringe favourite, received 9 Broadway World Toronto Award nominations and won the award for Best Choreography in a Musical or Play. Dancer is now scheduled for an Off-Broadway run next March.