Paul Zimet is the Artistic Director of Talking Band. Born and raised in New York City, he studied clarinet and voice at the High School of Music and Art, comparative literature at Columbia College, and medicine at Harvard Medical School. He has written and/or directed over 40 productions for Talking band: most recently Triplicity (by Ellen Maddow) and Shimmer and Herringbone (co-written with Ellen Maddow).  He also directed Taylor Mac’s The Walk Across America for Mother Earth, and Part I of Mac’s OBIE award winning epic, The Lilly’s Revenge.  As an actor, recent performances include: Existentialism (directed by Anne Bogart), The Following Evening (by 600 Highwaymen), and This Was the End (by Mallory Catlett). He is the recipient of five OBIE awards: including a LifeTime Achievement Award; an award for direction; and awards for his work as a member of Joseph Chaikin’s Open Theater and Winter Project. He is Associate Professor Emeritus in Theatre at Smith College, and an alumnus of New Dramatists. 

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In addition to his theater work, Paul works with the New York Peace Institute, mediating Civil, Housing, and Family Court cases  He also holds the rank of 7th Dan, Shihan in Aikido and teaches at the New York Aikikai.