Robert Alan 'Bob' Knuth is an American scenic designer and art director based in the Chicago, Illinois area. Knuth is currently the Creative Director of Marketing & Brand for The Second City Inc and UP Comedy Club in Chicago. Knuth began his tenure as Art Director for The Second City in 2005. Knuth has been nominated for 15 Joseph Jefferson Awards and is a two time award winner. In 2004, Chris Jones, Chief Theater Critic for The Chicago Tribune wrote about Knuth's body of work in Chicago storefront theaters, "Perhaps more than any other set designer working in the Chicago area, Knuth has solved the aesthetic problems inherent in the prosaic, end-on storefront where audience members sit in narrow rows and stare over the backs of heads at a rectangular stage without much depth or height. Normally, that's as constraining as trying to build a postmodern dwelling on a single Chicago lot. But as Knuth proves again in his very bold, striking and endlessly inventive production of "Jane Eyre", it does not have to be that way."
Biography
After attending undergraduate school at the University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire and completing two years of graduate studies in Design for the Theatre at Northwestern University, Knuth began his career as the Managing Artistic Director for CenterLight Sign and Voice Theatre in Northbrook, Illinois, in 1993. Knuth was the Senior Graphic Designer at The Chicago Symphony Orchestra from 1998-2005. Besides working as a freelance scenic and graphic designer, Knuth was Producing Director and resident Scenic/Graphic Designer for Circle Theatre Chicago in Forest Park from 2001-2013 before stepping down to pursue freelance work and focus on his career at The Second City. During his tenure as Producing Director, Circle Theatre had hosted visits from many notable entertainment luminaries, mounted World and Chicago Premieres and built a thriving subscriber base. Other scenic design credits include Mercury Theatre Chicago's productions of The Addams Family and The Color Purple. The Second City's mainstage productions of Let Them Eat Chaos, Depraved New World Panic on Cloud 9 and for The Second City's E.T.C. 39th Revue. Fox Valley Rep's Let's Misbehave, Breaking Up is Hard To Do, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, and The Mystery of Edwin Drood.
Other awards
In 2003, Knuth was also nominated for a Joseph Jefferson Award for Outstanding Direction of a Musical for The Secret Garden. "The Secret Garden" was nominated for a total 10 Jeff Awards that season and won for Outstanding Production - Musical, and three additional awards including Actress In A Supporting Role, Choreography, Costumes. In 2015 and 2017, Knuth received In-House Design Merit Awards from HOW Design Magazine for poster designs promoting the 103rd and 104th mainstage revues at The Second City.
Personal life
Knuth currently lives in Forest Park with his partner Kevin Bellie and their two cats, Clara and Howard.
