ABOUT JIM

BIO

Jim Knable's play SPAIN was produced at MCC Theatre (with Annabella Sciorra, dir. Jeremy Dobrish 2007), Summer Play Festival (2006), Woolly Mammoth Theatre, Actor's Express in Atlanta, New Jersey Rep, Playwrights Theatre of New Jersey, Phoenix Theatre of Indianapolis, Half Moon Theatre, Brooklyn College. TRUE AND SOLID GROUND at Soho Rep (SummerCamp 2001). EMERSON HIGH workshopped at NYU with Eduardo Machado (dramaturg), showcase production at Half Moon Theatre. GREEN MAN selected for National New Play Network showcase 2006, workshopped at Ars Nova 2008, Premiere Stages and The River Stage. SALTIMBANQUES and other plays written in college produced at Yale University. He was commissioned by Firefly: Theater and Film to write PRINCE OF AIR and THE GREAT BEYOND, which have been workshopped at Geva Theatre and Walnut Street Theatre. He was commissioned to write four plays for young audiences by The Playwrights Project and The Hangar Theatre. His young audience plays THE TRUTH ABOUT DINOSAURS and LOST IN WORDS have been published by Playscripts, Inc. SPAIN is published by Broadway Play Publishing and included in Smith and Kraus' Best New Plays 2008 Anthology. He holds an MFA from NYU Tisch for Dramatic Writing and a BA from Yale. At NYU, he won the Sloan Prize for full-length screenplay. Also a songwriter, he has independently produced and released one solo album (Miles) and two studio albums (Golden Arrow and Redbeard) with his band The Randy Bandits (www.randybandits.com). He lives in Brooklyn with his wife Rosey.

FULL STORY

Jim Knable's playwriting career started at the age of 14 when he saw a poster for the California Young Playwrights Contest and wrote an agit-prop play called the Jesus Scheme, which was selected as a contest winner, giving Jim his first professional production as a playwright. He won this contest two more times and the National Young Playwrights Contest twice. Songwriting was a hobby that developed into a serious habit as Jim continued writing and producing plays in college (Yale). He developed his songwriting craft through various coffee-house and bar gigs in New Haven and eventually New York.

Jim went to NYU Tisch's Dramatic Writing Program for further playwriting and screenwriting training and practice. He continued his performing as a singer/songwriter, developing a following. At NYU, he received productions and awards, such as being selected for the NYU New Play Festival, Screenplay Festival and receiving the Sloan Prize for full-length screenplay.

In the Spring of 2000, Jim went to Germany (Dresden) to participate in a German-American Theater collaboration. While there, he found many opportunities to perform his songs for German audiences and worked his songwriting and performing up to a professional level. He also founded an underground self-expressionist movement called the Soul Kebab at this time. Upon returning to New York, Jim recorded his first CD- MILES, a fourteen song representation of the best work Jim had done so far. MILES sold respectably and was (and still is) played on radio stations in Germany, France, England, Belgium, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Australia, Indiana, Texas and California.

Meanwhile, Jim’s play SPAIN found its way to the Woolly Mammoth Theatre in Washington D.C., scoring Jim his first regional theatre production in December of 2001. SPAIN was subsequently produced at several other regional theatres. Other plays by Jim (SALTIMBANQUES, TRUE AND SOLID GROUND, OTHAMLET, GREEN MAN) started to get readings and productions at reputable companies like Soho Rep, The Geva Theatre, The River Stage, and The Judith Shakespeare Company. Jim received 4 commissions (from The Hangar Theatre and Playwrights Project) to write plays for young audiences while he continued to work on his grown-up plays.

MEANWHILE, The Randy Bandits formed almost by accident and definitely by kismet in 2002. Jim found himself amongst amazingly talented musicians who helped him bring his songs to the next level in front of a broader audience. The Randy Bandits released THE WOMAN OR THE BLUES EP in 2003 and REDBEARD, a full-length album, in 2006. They play all over New York and surrounding states and have managed to attract fans nationally and internationally thanks to the wonders of the internet.

In 2007, Jim saw SPAIN produced at MCC Theatre with an amazing cast including Annabella Sciorra, Veanne Cox, Michael Aronov, Lisa Kron and Erik Jensen. SPAIN was produced at the New York Summer Play Festival in 2006. 2008 began with the release of The Randy Bandits' LIVE AT OTTO'S SHRUNKEN HEAD CD, continued with workshops of GREEN MAN at Ars Nova and EMERSON HIGH at NYU's Behind the Scenes showcase. 2009 has seen the release of the critically praised new Randy Bandits studio album GOLDEN ARROW and the development of a new play (actually two new plays) commissioned by Firefly Theatre. SONGS FROM GREEN MAN, a Jim Knable with The Randy Bandits studio album, is currently under construction, merging Jim's plays and songs at last; also, along those lines, Jim and his composer brother (and Randy Bandits drummer) Sunny are hammering out at least one musical!

EMERSON HIGH received a showcase production in November 2009 at Half Moon Theatre and PRINCE OF AIR received a rehearsed reading at Geva Theatre, both directed by SPAIN director, Jeremy Dobrish.