William J. G. Turner

Who was William J. G. Turner?

William John Gascoyne Turner worked extensively as a composer, director, dramatist, producer and actor. He wrote for nearly 30 productions, including three operas and numerous musicals.

Mr. Turner began his theatrical career in Shorewood, Wisconsin, acting in or creating costumes for high school productions. At Shorewood High School he met his first collaborator, Lory Lazarus, and the two of them created their first musical together: The Reunion Of Sam, with Mr. Turner writing the music. This theater of the absurd musical was first performed in 1969 in their English class. The following year it received staged readings at various coffeehouses in the Milwaukee area, finally receiving a full production in 1973 when they were both students at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee. Also while attending UW-M, Mr. Turner created incidental music for Lazarus' Inanimation, performed by Milwaukee's Theatre X, and The Utopian And The Scab, performed by fellow drama students. They started work on their next musical, Farnum's Fabulous Freaks, but work on it came to a halt when Mr. Turner moved to Utah.

Trained at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, Mr. Turner also held a BFA in theatrical direction from Carnegie Mellon University. As a directing student, he directed a production of Sondheim's Evening Primrose as well as the premiere of the musical Glitz! for Scotch 'n' Soda, the student theater group at Carnegie Mellon.