Biography
J. S. Puller graduated Magna Cum Laude from Northwestern University in 2007. She received a Bachelor of Science in Theatre from the School of Communication with a concentration in playwriting and acting. Additionally, she earned a minor in Classical Studies from the School of Arts and Sciences. Before graduation, her play The Book of Dave was named a finalist in the Agnes Nixon Playwriting Festival, a contest held in partnership with Northwestern and the Steppenwolf Theatre Company. Her play, Women Who Weave, won her departmental honors as her senior thesis and won the American Alliance of Theatre and Education's unpublished play reading contest. At the annual conference in Atlanta, Georgia, the play was featured in a showcase open to all members of the Alliance.
In 2009, Ms. Puller's play, The Creator, a piece dealing with death for young audiences, won the Beverly Hills Theatre Guild Play Competition for Youth Theatre sponsored by Marilyn Hall. It was subsequently presented as a reading at Apple Tree Theatre.
Ms. Puller is currently affiliated with several theaters in the northern suburbs of Chicago. For the Citadel Theatre in Lake Forest, Illinois she serves as head of educational literary development where she assisted with the organization of the 2007 outreach program, targeted at providing theatrical education for the students of Lake Forest and Lake Bluff, whose high school does not include a drama department. She served as an unofficial dramaturge to help select scripts for the production classes and she represented the Citadel, alongside artistic director Scott Phelps, at a community center meeting to discuss integrating the Citadel's programming into the center's course offerings.
Besides the Citadel, Ms. Puller is also affiliated with the Piccolo Theatre Ensemble in Evanston, Illinois where she has served as performer four times, twice for their annual family production. In addition to volunteering for box office and house management duties, Ms. Puller has also penned the script for Perseus and Medusa, which was recently and unanimously voted for the winter 2009 family production.
Ms. Puller has served as an educational intern at Apple Tree Theatre in Highland Park, Illinois where she has assisted in the development of a program called Apple Tree Jr. for students K-3. She is presently taking this experience with her into Northwestern's Masters of Science in Education program.
Classical studies has been a lifelong love for Ms. Puller and she has produced numerous scripts and novels centered around Greek mythology. Scripts include the stories of Jason and Medea, Eros and Psyche, Echo and Narcissus (upcoming reading scheduled for December through the Filament Theatre Ensemble). Novels she's written include Cassandra, Polyxena, Oenone, and Hermione, as well as a novelization of Women Who Weave and a piece called Following Odysseus. She enjoys writing for both children and adults and wants to spread a love of Greek mythology. Her literary ambition is to be to the Trojan War what Philippa Gregory is to Tudor England. Only better.
