Artist Bio

Jessica Thebus

(Bio as of November 2020)

Jessica Thebus (Director) is a theater artist, director and educator. Jessica was last seen at the Goodman directing A Christmas Carol 2020-2023, Buzzer by Tracey Scott Wilson. Other Goodman credits include The Clean House and the world premiere of Stage Kiss. She has directed and adapted plays in Chicago for more than twenty years including Sex With StrangersIntimate ApparelDead Man’s Cell PhoneWhen the Messenger Is HotNo Place Like HomeLady MadelineSonia Flew  and the Steppenwolf Youth Theater program from 1998-2001 (Steppenwolf Theatre); Shining Lives: A Musical (Jeff Award nomination for Best New Work, Northlight Theater); In The Garden: A Darwinian Love StoryAll Fall Down and Our Town (Lookingglass Theatre); Richard III (The Gift Theater); The Turn Of The Screw (Writer’s Theater); SALAO: The Worst Kind Of Unlucky and The Feast (Jeff Award nomination for Best New Work, Redmoon Theater); LATE: A Cowboy Song and Abingdon Square (Piven Theater); Pulp and Winesburg, Ohio (About Face Theatre).  National credits include As You Like It and Welcome Home (Oregon Shakespeare Festival); Civil War Christmas (Huntington Theatre); Harriet Jacobs (Kansas City Repertory Theatre); The Oldest Boy (The Marin Theater Company); and Jenny Sutter (Kennedy Center). She holds a PhD in Performance Studies from Northwestern University and is currently Director of the Northwestern MFA Program in Directing for the Stage. Jessica lives in Chicago with her husband David, her daughter Willa Marie and dogs Vesta and Kenneth.