Play-by-Play

SPAIN A seriously magical comedy

Barbara, recently deserted by her husband of five years, discovers a Conquistador in her living room. Though she has had vivid fantasies about Spain, the Conquistador and his cruel and bloodthirsty approach to life were never part of them... until now. Through him and a maze of real and imaginary characters in a completely unstable world Barbara sorts through the garbage she's been left with and learns how to make something of it. (For 3 Women and 2 Men).

Produced October 2007 by MCC Theatre starring Annabella Sciorra, Veanne Cox, Michael Aronov, Lisa Kron and Erik Jensen. Previously produced at New York Summer Play Festival 2006, Woolly Mammoth Theatre, The New Jersey Repertory Company, Playwrights Theatre of New Jersey, Actor's Express in Atlanta, Phoenix Theatre of Indianapolis, New York University with staged readings at Arena Stage in D.C. and Interact Theatre in Philadelphia.

"Knable is an imaginative dramatist with a supple talent for the bizarre. His text is a maze, or perhaps a mirrored hall in an amusement park, where nothing is what it appears to be... outrageously funny." -ROBERT L. DANIELS, VARIETY

"Funny, whimsical and wildly charming" -Michael Dale, BROADWAYWORLD.COM

Houdini Plays-- result of commission from Firefly:Theatre and Films
PRINCE OF AIR
A modern day struggling magician uses Houdini's greatest acts to get through a personal crisis. A play about love, magic and modern medicine.
Staged Public Reading: November 30, 2009 at Geva Theatre in Rochester, NY. Directed by Jeremy Dobrish.
and
THE GREAT BEYOND
A biographical tornado focusing on Harry Houdini and his wife and partner Bess, starting and ending with the mysticism they first perpetrated then fought against.

EMERSON HIGH
A tragi-comedy

The band teacher is having an affair with the flute player. The trumpet player is in love with his English teacher... who is the band teacher's ex-girlfriend. High tragedy with a morally ambiguous happy ending. (2 Men, 2 Women)

Showcase produduction November 2009 at Half Moon Theatre in Poughkeepsie, NY. Directed by Jeremy Dobrish.

See article in the Hudson Valley Chronogram

Staged reading October 2008 for NYU's Behind the Scenes showcase. Selected in compition with other NYU alumni, Eduard Machado final judge and advisor.

GREEN MAN
Drama

A play about love, loss and gargoyles. Ronald and Abigail are missing someone, as is their stone sculptor friend Genice. They all seem to find the person they're missing in The Green Man--a character shifter who someday might hold still. Featuring songs and music by Jim Knable. (2 Men, 2 Women)

Rehearsed staged readings at Ars Nova NYC, Premiere Stages, NJ and The River Stage in Sacramento, readings at Playwrights Theatre of New Jersey, Premiere Stages and for National New Play Network.

THE RAPIER OF EUROPA
Family Drama

A family drama with sword fights. Evan is going through puberty and learning how to fence. His father, president of the fencing club, is trying to teach him. Something happened to his mom that nobody is telling him about. Sooner or later, someone has to say something. (2 Men, 2 Women)

SALTIMBANQUES
A Cubist Comedy-Drama

James and Louise, at the crisis of adulthood face their recently deceased mother's assertion that they are Picasso's illegitmate children. James, an art dealer, has recently escaped from a manipulative relationship with a sculptress. Louise, an artist who gave up art, has come to console her brother and convince him that his faith in his mother's madness is as dangerous as the relationship he just left. Meanwhile, Mommy's former art student stalks the twins, having been told by Mommy long ago that he is possessed by Picasso's spirit. Told in past and present time. (For 3 Women and 2 Men).

Workshop production at Yale University, readings at Geva Theatre and at Playwrights Horizons (Nascent Works)

TRUE AND SOLID GROUND
A Pseudo-Symbolist Comedy

A North Korean fighter pilot defects by plane and crash-lands in a small imaginary country in China inhabited only by a Hunchback and his prisoner, the former Queen of Egypt. The pilot's wife and the general interrogating her fall in love, defect and land in the same country. All hell breaks loose, the Hunchback's tower falls and the survivors decide to start a new country,which is all well and good until someone they've all forgotten about catches up with them. (For 3Men and 2 Women).

Workshop Production at The Soho Repertory Theatre, Summer 2001.

OTHAMLET
An Iambic Comedy

Othamlet the King discovers his wife Lady McDeath and his trusted servant Ego have placed him on the thrown after having erased his memory of their successful plot to kill the previous king. Lady McDeath and Ego set up Othamlet for scandal with Pleopatra (another former Queen of Egypt), who is currently interred at an amusement exhibit call Egypt's Tombs. Othamlet flees with Pleopatra, gets shiprwrecked on an island, both thinking the other is dead. Events ensue. More characters appear. Travesty is the ultimate result. (For 4 Women and 4 Men).

Readings at Playwrights Horizons (Nascent Works) and for Judith Shakespeare Company's 2006 Resurgence Festival

Touring plays for Younger Audiences

THE BEST MISTAKE

Becky discovers that her charismatic and sometimes annoying father has not learned to read. She craftily gets him to help himself with the aid of her first boyfriend and Hamlet. (2 Women and 2 Men).

Commissioned by the Playwrights Project in 1999.
Subsequently toured from Spring of 2000 to Spring of 2002 at high schools, rehabilitation centers and libraries in Southern California. Remounted for another tour by Playwrights Project in 2008.

PUBLISHED BY DRAMATIC PUBLISHING 2011

THE TRUTH ABOUT DINOSAURS

Three stories about kids and their love of dinosaurs, ranging from a paleontologist who's son can only get her attention by singing rock songs about dinosaurs, to a young boy who thinks he's turning into a dinosaur during his mother's illness, to a short and sweet fable about a dinosaur with feathers who gets made fun of even though she's more evolved. All tied together by a mysterious narrator who tells us "The Truth about Dinosaurs." With songs by Jim Knable.( 2 Women and 2 Men).

PUBLISHED BY PLAYSCRIPTS, INC IN 2009. Commissioned by the The Hangar Theatre of Ithaca in 2002.
Subsequently toured in the fall of 2002 at elementary and middle schools in Upstate New York, remounted and toured again by Hangar in 2008.

HYPER-FOCUS

A boy named Thomas Jefferson can't seem to focus in school. He is told he has ADD. With his widowed mom, a caring teacher and his first potential girlfriend, he figures out how to deal with it. (For 2 Women and 2 Men). With songs by Jim Knable.

Commissioned by the Playwrights Project in 2004.
Subsequently toured in the fall of 2004 at middle and high schools, rehabilitation centers and libraries in Southern California.

LOST IN WORDS

Fifteen-year old Sylvia is a star student on the path to becoming a doctor when her family moves from their native Mexico to California. As she plunges into a new school, culture and language, she worries that her lifelong goal has moved out of reach. (For 3 Women and 2 Men). In Spanish and English with songs by Jim Knable.

PUBLISHED BY PLAYSCRIPTS, INC. IN 2009. Commissioned by the Playwrights Project in 2005.
Subsequently toured in the fall of 2005 and 2006 at middle and high schools, rehabilitation centers and libraries in Southern California. Remounting for Spring and Fall of 2006.