Jim’s first music job was playing organ through high school, college, and graduate school. Having been introduced to jazz in college, he now considers himself mostly a jazz pianist but still plays selections from his favorite classical composers. He has worked as an accompanist/arranger and taught college classes in music theory.

 

In the summer of 2021, during one of their many music conversations, KJ asked long-time theatre-goer and composer Jim why he had never combined those interests in a musical theatre project. This led to their first collaboration on a musical, "Perceptions", which is currently in development.

 

Inspired by having recently watched Allegiance and Bandstand, we felt that the shows that moved us the most were grounded in real social issues, not just fairytale endings. Our early drafts focused on typecasting, representation, and identity. The name “Perceptions” draws focus to the baggage we bring to our interpretations of art, politics, and people in general. 

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As we continued writing and researching, our analysis sharpened to include economic motivations and root causes for culture war issues. One creative breakthrough was found in turning the inner show, “Deceptions”, from a campy spy thriller to a dramatization of the role of the arts in contemporary propaganda.

 

This allowed the shift in focus from trying to preachily present solutions on how to create progressive, inclusive art, to instead focus on our own journey navigating privilege, growing class consciousness, and making art responsibly in an inherently political world, all dramatized through the eyes of our playwright protagonist, Leslie.