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# Playwright Jay Reiss brings 'That May Well Be True' to Ruskin Group Theatre
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/021006-story-20060210-3/
- Published: 2006-02-10T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T17:14:24.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Entertainment, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*By Daily Press staff*

It’s not unusual for actors to become playwrights — Sam Shepard, Noel Coward, even Chekhov started their theatre careers on stage.

But a playwright who turns to acting — and who practically makes his debut on Broadway — is, indeed, a rare phenomenon.

“I made my acting debut and farewell on Broadway, as everyone should,” says recent Los Angeles transplant Jay Reiss, only half joking.

Reiss — whose play “That May Well Be True” will have a run at Ruskin Group Theatre in Santa Monica Feb. 10 through April 1 — found himself on the Great White Way through a series of serendipitous events, the stuff of which show biz legends are made.

It started as a lark. At the urging of his fiancée, director Rebecca Feldman, Reiss agreed to help create and act in a quirky, improv-heavy show called “C-R-E-P-U-S- C-U-L-E” about a spelling bee competition. The play ran three weeks at Theatorium in downtown New York in 2004\. And that was supposed to have been that.

It was off to Barrington Stage in the Berkshires where several other co-creators worked with Finn to develop the new musical that was to become “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.”

Riess ended up staying in the Broadway produ•ction for six months in the role of Douglas Panch, the vice principal he created for the original play who asks the bee contestants the tricky words to spell. He also performed at the Tony Awards last spring and bantered with — and gave a spelling test to — Katie Couric on “The Today Show.”

It was the kind of success that thousands of wannabe actors throughout the nation would give an arm and a leg for. But Reiss had no desire to be an actor, had no on-stage experience as a child or young adult, and did not even major in theatre as an undergraduate at the State University of New York at Binghamton — he studied cinema.

However, he has been a productive writer, graduating from The Juilliard School’s playwriting program and authoring several plays including “The Tulip Craze” (Manhattan Theatre Club); “Meanwhile, on the Other Side of Mount Vesuvius” (Adobe Theatre in New York); and “The Romantics.” “That May Well Be True” was commissioned by Manhattan Theatre Club.

Though Reiss could have stayed on in “Spelling Bee,” his heart — and main interest — lies with writing. And so he bid an emotional farewell to fellow cast members last October and moved to LA to write screenplays, having already sold one script to Warner Bros.

“Acting was good fun, but it was never the most fulfilling thing,” he said. “But for a playwright, it was an invaluable experience. I told the people at Juilliard that the final part of the playwriting program should be acting in a Broadway musical.”

“That May Well Be True” runs Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. at Ruskin Group Theatre, 3000 Airport Ave. For information call (310) 397-3244.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 10, 2006.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/021006.pdf?ref=smdp.com)