Jay was born and raised in Montana, making him one in a million (at least statistically).
He lives and writes in Missoula with his wife, Gwen McKenna, and their cat Yoko.
Along with Cole Grant, and in partnership with Montana Public Radio, Jay created the literary podcast Words Out West, launched in February 2021.
His one-act play Flotsam, Jetsam and Bill received an Honorable Mention from Mixing It Up Productions’ 2020 Spring Emerging Playwrights’ Contest. This play will also be produced by the Montana Playwrights Network at the Helena Avenue Theatre in Helena, Montana, as soon as Covid restrictions are lifted.
Jay’s radio play My Dad and Pre-Socratic Thought won Best Audio Play at the 2016 Moondance International Film Festival in Boulder, Colorado.
His stage productions include Television Blues (BoxFest Detroit 2019), The Vorbit Incident, which premiered at the Montana Actors Theatre in Havre, Montana (2019), in conjunction with the Montana Playwrights Network.
Jay has penned four plays for the Montana Repertory Theatre’s Educational Outreach Tour, including Writing Wild: The Adventures of Jack London. For their 2017 tour, he wrote Raised in the Saddle, which he and his wife, along with composer Fred Crase, are currently adapting into a musical.
To learn more about Jay and his work, go to: https://www.jaykettering.com/