Jill Szoo Wilson is a writer, theatre artist, and educator whose work traces the layered intersections of story and truth. She is drawn to the conviction that nothing is ever just one thing, and that beneath every surface lies a deeper current waiting to be named. This fascination shapes her work across genres and disciplines, where language becomes both instrument and excavation.
After nearly two decades teaching theatre and communication at the university level, Jill now works professionally as a writer, while continuing to direct, coach actors, and develop performance-centered projects. Her career has spanned classrooms, professional stages, and on-screen work for more than twenty years. Whether shaping a sentence or shaping a scene, she remains attentive to the rhythms of voice, silence, and subtext.
Her perspective has been profoundly shaped by years of travel and collaboration with Holocaust survivor Eva Mozes Kor. Walking the grounds of Auschwitz, Kraków, Hungary, and Romania alongside Eva deepened Jill’s commitment to moral clarity, truth-telling, and the long, complex work of forgiveness. Those experiences continue to inform her writing and her understanding of resilience.
Across poetry, essays, curriculum, and performance, Jill seeks to create work that is reflective, intellectually rigorous, and alive to the fullness of being human. She writes toward complexity rather than away from it, trusting that paradox often carries more truth than certainty.
Influences & Inspirations
On the stage
Jill is drawn to the raw, restless poetry of Sam Shepard, whose plays dig beneath the surface of American life. His fractured families and haunted landscapes mirror her fascination with the complexity of identity and belonging.
On the screen
She admires Lucille Ball not only for her impeccable comedic timing but also for her tenacity as a trailblazing businesswoman who reshaped the entertainment industry on her own terms. She also looks to Kenneth Branagh, whose Shakespearean craft and cinematic vision combine intelligence, passion, and emotional depth.
On the page
She often returns to George Orwell, whose clear-eyed prose and moral urgency remind her of the power of truth-telling against systems of distortion.
In theology
Joel Richardson’s work, particularly his insistence on reading the Bible through a Jewish apocalyptic framework, has sharpened her understanding of prophecy and continuity across Scripture. Viewed through that lens, the biblical narrative feels historically anchored and vividly alive.
In poetry
Emily Dickinson, today, tomorrow, and forever. Jill treasures her piercing brevity, her courage to dwell in ambiguity, and the way her words still feel alive, urgent, and unafraid of mystery.
In visual art
She is inspired by Georgia O’Keeffe, who once declared, “I have already settled it for myself, so flattery and criticism go down the same drain and I am quite free.” O’Keeffe’s fierce independence and luminous vision affirm Jill’s own belief in the freedom of artistic integrity.
In philosophy
She is drawn to thinkers who linger in paradox and metaphor. Søren Kierkegaard circles truth through irony and contradiction, unsettling easy answers. C.S. Lewis weds imagination to reason, letting images carry weight where argument alone cannot. Fyodor Dostoyevsky looks into the abyss of suffering and freedom, where even in the darkest corners of the soul, the possibility of grace refuses to vanish.
In her home
These days, the speakers carry the lyric depth of Emily Barker, Bonny Light Horseman, and Iron & Wine. She’s into beauty that’s a little weathered and very poetic.
In her Car
The mood shifts toward momentum. Windows down, volume up.
A random passion
Crows. Jill finds them endlessly fascinating: clever tool-makers, problem solvers, and fiercely loyal to their kin. They’re often mistaken for ravens, but if you know what you’re listening for, the difference is clear: a crow’s call is the sharp “caw, caw”, while a raven’s voice is lower and throatier, more of a “croooaak.” (For the full effect, listen here.) Basically, she has a soft spot for the world’s most opinionated bird.
Jill Szoo Wilson 