Jim Neu (1943-2010) was an American playwright and actor, based in New York City, who was best known for his experimental plays. Neu was born in Brooklyn on November 18, 1943. He graduated from the State University of New York at Oneonta in the early 1960s and was then drafted into the U.S. Army. Instead of being sent to fight in Vietnam, Neu was stationed in Korea. After being discharged in 1967, he moved to Manhattan's Lower East Side and between 1970 and 1975, Neu performed with Robert Wilson's Byrd Hoffman School of Byrds.

In 1976, Neu briefly re-located to California and alongside his friend and collaborator, sk dunn, he began creating works for the Napa Valley Theater Company (NVTC). While at the NVTC, Neu also collaborated with composer Michael Galasso and choreographer Liz Pasquale. Together they created one of Neu's notable plays, Echo Ranch, in 1977. This piece was later performed at the Green St. Gallery and PS 1 in New York City.

Neu returned to New York City in the late 1970s and began to collaborate with several downtown Manhattan performance spaces including the Kitchen, the Westbeth Theater, PS122's Avant-Garde-Arama, and the Soho Reperatory Theatre. He also began to participate in theater festivals in both the United States and in Europe. In 1991, Neu became friends with Ellen Stewart, founder of the La MaMa Experimental Theater Club, and began his long-term working relationship with La MaMa.

Over the course of his career, Neu wrote many plays including Him or Me (1979), Basic Behavior (1982), Duet for Spies (1987), The Floatones (1995), Mondo Beyondo (1997), and Target Audience (2003) -- many of which were staged at La MaMa. He also wrote screenplays for two films, Doomed Loved (1983) and The Big Blue (1988), both of which were directed by Andrew Horne and premiered at the Berlin Film Festival.

Between 1985-1987, Neu was the receipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship and a New York Foundation for the Arts Playwriting Fellowship. In 1994 he was awarded a New Works grant by the New York State Council on the Arts and spent time at Andy's Summer Playhouse in New Hampshire mentoring young playwrights. In 2000, he was awarded an Arts International performance grant for the Exodus Festival in Lljubljana, Slovenia and conducted a playwriting workshop at the Mladinsko Theater.

Jim Neu died on July 19, 2010 from lung cancer.