Jim Stowell is an Emmy Award-winning playwright, director, actor, and storyteller whose 58-year career began in the bloody whirlwind of 1968. A "rough-hewn original" of the Twin Cities theater scene, he co-founded the Minnesota Ensemble Theater and The Palace Theater, pioneering experimental works that create entire worlds on stage.

Stowell is the author of 26 professionally produced plays, including the critically acclaimed one-man shows Talking Pictures and The Things They Carried. Celebrated by critics as a "master at work," his performances are noted for being vivid, intense, direct, and powerful. Beyond the stage, his work was shaped by his global travels to Nicaragua, the Amazon, and Northern Ireland.