Playwright – Jyl Bonaguro

Playwright, Artist Jyl Bonaguro - Urania The PlayThe playwright Jyl Bonaguro is a multi-media artist. Using drawing, painting and sculpture, she explores both landscapes and the human figure.  Her current series involves hand carving alabaster and Carrara marble into human landscapes and forms.  

For years her writing career was dormant until she discovered a wonderful book in 2009 by Judith Zinsser called Emilie Du Châtelet:  Daring Genius of the Enlightenment.  Enthralled and deeply dismayed at the lack of historical recognition Emlie had received despite her achievements, Jyl began the slow laborious process of immersion into the 18th century.  Trained in creative writing at Loyola University Chicago, she spend over 3 years researching and writing the play.  At one point she journeyed to France to visit the chateau in Cirey that Emilie and Voltaire had lived in together.   Read more about that journey here or listen and watch Jyl tell the tale for PechaKucha

Recently, all this effort culminated in the 2 night workshop production of Bonaguro’s play Urania, an intimate look at Enlightenment mathematician Emilie Du Châtelet. Hosted at Hilton Asmus Contemporary, the performances of Urania represented the full merger of Bonaguro’s artistic interests and the culmination of her four-year plus quest.  Her quest to not only understand Emilie and her chaotic, dynamic culture, but her desire to practice the art of writing. Watch the Live Interviews from the Workshop Production of Urania

Jyl Bonaguro has a BA in English–creative writing from Loyola University Chicago: an Honorary Credential in sculpture and mural studies from Northeastern University of China; and has studied figure drawing at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.