John Bent Jr. (JBJ) is a curmudgeonly theatrical audio technician and designer who has worked in the Canadian theatre industry for over 30 years and in most of the major theatre companies across Canada. His Curriculum Vitae can be found here. In 2015 he announced his retirement from theatre, his last show being The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance in October 2015.
Of course retirement is just a buzzword for “I’m only going to take the gigs when I’m bored”, so he took on the design of A Christmas Carol at the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre in 2017, and designed Li Keur: Riel’s Heart of the North for the Manitoba Opera in 2023.
He also is the treasurer and stage manager for his partner’s community theatre company R-G Productions, which perform at the Winnipeg Fringe Festival and various venues in Manitoba.
A few years ago he took a sabbatical from his job at Manitoba Theatre Centre and went to Nepal and India to get away from the crowds of Canada. His experiences can be found under the tab marked India & Nepal Trip above. He also escaped the foggy, cold, damp, baguette and wine picnics of Winnipeg for a trip to Wales and France and related his observations under the tab marked Wales and France.
He is a member of many arts organizations including the North American Sound Walkers Association who’s manifesto can be found under the NASWA tab. Some of the antics of backstage life can be found under Stories from backstage.
Most days, John expresses his idiotic life experiences as a status update on Facebook. Those are listed in the tab marked Facebook Statuses. Many take place in his local Safeway grocery store.
Occasionally John flies completely off the handle and feels the need to talk about his ire for various unimportant aspects of the human condition. Those are listed under Rants from a Bent man.
Ranting can make him hungry, sometimes he cooks and the tab marked Recipes has some of his more creative food creations that don’t involve a box that you put in the microwave.
Sometimes a post just don’t fit anywhere. Those can be found under Other.
John lives in an abandoned toolshed behind a fake rubber vomit warehouse in Winnipeg Manitoba Canada with a squirrel named Peanut Hoarder, where he steals an internet signal from the Kung Fu school next door. He is a little “off”.
bentouttashape 
No pressure JBJ, but I’m following and analyzing your blog as part of my Masters of Educational Technology program 🙂
Colin
Good lord, I hope I didn’t drag your marks down. Did you pass?
Winnipeg.. my home town!
Yup… and by the looks of your blog, you missed the coldest winter in over a hundred years this year. Good timing for a move to France.
Hi JBJ,
I stumbled upon your blog while I was reading through many. and I can say you are one more inspiration from me, for me to allow my self to write more and share my travel tales with people.
Your posts are a mixture of wit, laughter, emotions. Loved them all.
Oh yes I am going to try that cake recipe. Keep writing and delighting us.
xx
Aanchal
Aww, that’s very kind, and I’ll be sure to check out your blog and read your adventures too.
Thanks for reading 🙂
Thank you so much JBJ for following my blog. Feeling happy 🙂
“…Nepal and India to get away from the crowds of Canada.”
Laughing my ass off!
“John lives in an abandoned toolshed behind a fake rubber vomit warehouse in Winnipeg Manitoba Canada with a squirrel named Peanut Hoarder, where he steals an internet signal from the Kung Fu school next door. He is a little “off”.”
Brilliant ‘About’ Page!
Thanks so much :). You have a pretty cool blog yourself, Wow you’ve been to a lot of places!
😉