Jim DeVita biography

Jim DeVita

At Writers Theatre: A Moon for the Misbegotten

Jim DeVita, a native of Long Island, NY, is an author, actor and theater director. Jim is primarily based in Wisconsin where he has been a core-company member of American Players Theater (APT) for twenty-three years. Some directing credits include Richard III, Romeo and Juliet, Gift of the Magi, The Desert Queen and Cyrano de Bergerac. Recent acting credits Eddie in View from the Bridge (APT) Poet in An Iliad (Milwaukee Reperatory, APT) and Valmont in Dangerous Liaisons (ACT Theater). Along with his novels, A Winsome Murder, The Silenced and Blue, Jim has also worked extensively as a playwright. Some of his adult plays include Learning to Stay, Christmas in Babylon, Gift of the Magi (musical adaptation), In Acting Shakespeare, The Desert Queen (the life of Gertrude Bell), Dickens in America and a new adaptation of Cyrano de Bergerac. Jim has also worked for many years as a playwright for young audiences. His work in the field has been acknowledged with The Distinguished Play Award from The American Alliance for Theatre and Education (AATE), The Intellectual Freedom Award and The AATE honored his body of work with the Charlotte B. Chorpenning Award. Jim’s education began as a first mate on the charter boat JIB VII out of Captree Boat Basin, NY. He then studied theater at Suffolk County Community College, Long Island, and at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He also attended Madison Area Technical College where he was licensed as an Emergency Medical Technician. Jim is a member of The Dramatists Guild and Actors Equity Association, and a recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship for Fiction.

[Bio as of November 2017]