Jess Wright Buha is an internationally produced, award-winning playwright and audio dramatist.

ABOUT

Jess Wright Buha is an internationally-produced playwright and award-winning audio dramatist. As a playwright, she has written over 40 plays including Wake: A Folk Opera, Circle House, and an adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, which have been produced at theaters like Goodman Theatre, The Gift Theatre, Lifeline Theatre, Filament Theatre, South Africa's National Children's Theatre, and the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. 

As an audio dramatist, she has experience writing in many genres, including kids/family (Macho’s Eggcellent Adventure), comedy (the X-Men season 1 radio mode for Marvel Move), historical adventure (Nellie Bly), and drama/mystery (Unwell: A Midwestern Gothic Mystery). 

She also co-created and wrote the Soundlab series, four informational videos produced by the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra that have been used by elementary music educators around the world. 

She grew up in St. Louis, cut her teeth in the storefront scene in Chicago, and recently moved to Oak Park with her spouse, her two wild and whirling kids, and her two rescue huskies.

PRESS

  • The show’s great strength is the world-premiere adaptation by Jessica Wright Buha, remarkable for how well it dramatizes the whole show….Buha has turned every scene in the novel into dialogue. It’s an impressive feat.

    Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune
    Anna Karenina

  • "In Circle House, Buha has compiled the words from myriad artists into a truly beautiful show."

    A.A. Cristi , Broadwayworld.com
    Circle House

  • "Director Dorothy Milne and playwright Jessica Wright Buha, in her debut adaption for the company, transform Bernard Warber’s somewhat plodding 1974 book into a singing, dancing, juggling, hula-hooping, jump-roping, gymnastic showcase for five dynamic performers."

    Nora Durkin, New City
    Lyle Finds His Mother

  • "[Buha's play] is achingly on the mark. It tells a subtle, very accurate story about growing up that plays perfectly with the strangeness, romance, and action of its Western roots."

    Kevin Thomas, Time Out Chicago
    One Came Home

  • "[Buha’s play] presents that trajectory of loss with heart and grit."

    Kerry Reid, Chicago Tribune
    One Came Home

  • "In Lifeline Theatre’s world premiere adaptation by Jessica Wright Buha, the story of Georgie Burkhardt’s search in 1871 Wisconsin for her elder sister often feels tough, tender and remarkably honest about how complicated — and yet paradoxically simple — the truth can be."

    Kerry Reid, Chicago Tribune
    One Came Home

  • "[Buha's play] teaches children and young adults about the importance of inquisitiveness, reading, responsibility, initiative, and many other positive attributes as the story unfolds."

    Tonderai Chiyindiko, The African Theatre Magazine
    Sparky

  • "In the evening’s most complex and masterfully imagined production, director Carolyn Hoerdemann and her gifted ensemble took [Buha's] bewitching script and brilliantly created a beguiling musical account; mixing gospel, bluegrass and blues to hauntingly evoke the sirens, spirits and specters, thereby realizing a heartbreakingly gruesome and musically marvelous lullaby of death."

    Venus Zarris, Chicago Stage Review
    Alabama Mermaid

Recent Works

  • X-Men: Age of Orchis, Radio Mode

    an immersive audio drama produced by Marvel and Six to Start

    More Info

  • STARDOG

    an intimate theatrical experience about grief, hope, and the power of storytelling, featuring interactive gameplay

    More Info

  • Powell Hall Playlist

    a rollicking show featuring a hopeless usher, a time-travelling streetcar conductor, and the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra

    More Info

Featured Works

  • Unwell: A Midwestern Gothic Mystery

    “'Cause if you're not going away, then I will make you go away because I'm not running.”

    The winner of the 2021 BBC Best Podcast award, with over 9.5 million lifetime downloads

    Explore more Scripted Audio

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  • Anna Karenina

    “We could be happy, if you wish. But it involves that word you hate: love”

    The critically-acclaimed adaptation of one of the world’s most beloved novels.

    Explore more Stage Plays: Literary Adaptations

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  • Sherlock Holmes and the Mystery of Portage Park

    “Come, neighbors, come! The game is afoot! Onto your bicycles and ride!”

    The sold out, beloved-by-audiences, promenade-style interactive mystery

    Explore more Stage Plays: Kids Shows

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Ulysses production photo by Joe Mazza - Brave Lux

JWB portrait by Casey Richards