PRESS
Starting in 1971 the press compared my work to or with: Lewis Carrol, Walt Whitman, William Kennedy, William Styron, William Faulkner, Gary Snyder, Jack Kerouac, Neil Cassidy, John Steinbeck, Harper Lee, Mark Twain, Fellini, Buster Keaton and The Marx Brothers. For example: GAZE Magazine, 1986. “Stowell’s, ‘Rio Bravo! Rio Grande!’ is theater at its best, resonating of Mark Twain, William Styron, and Harper Lee.”
quotes from critics
“The most exciting radical theater production I’ve seen in the Twin Cities.”
“His latest show affords us the opportunity to see a master at work.”
“This is acting at its finest: vivid, intense, direct, powerful.”
“Mr. Stowell is a great American storyteller.”
“Stowell is the consummate storyteller.”
“Stowell, the area’s premier storyteller has never been better.”
“Stowell’s eye for detail has never been sharper.”
“Stowell at his best and most compelling.”
“This is Stowell’s most poetic and beautiful show yet.”
“This is theater at its best, full of truth, power and commitment.”
“Stowell can create entire worlds on stage.”
“You can smell the cottonwoods and cattails on the river bank.”
“We see, hear, smell and even taste the streets.”
“Weather, terrain, and even smell is transmitted.”
“He described everything with such clarity, it’s as if the corn fields and his “blood brother” Eddie, were onstage with him.”
“He makes you see each of the many characters he plays.”
“Even the dark corners of the play are luminous.”
“The audience’s standing ovation and exclamations as Mr. Stowell ended the show spoke to the fact that his rendition of ‘The Things They Carried’ needs to be shown again and again.”
“In 1990, The New York Times called Tim O’Brien’s ‘The Things They Carried’ “…essential fiction about Vietnam moving beyond the horror to examine with sensitivity and insight the nature of courage and fear…” Jim Stowell’s adaptation, however, accomplishes this and considerably more. His stunning performance in tandem with incisive writing brings O’Brien’s story to explicit, harrowing life.”