About Hartley Wright

I am extroverted, optimistic, versatile and spontaneous. Friends have called me playful, high-spirited, and practical; I've been accused of being multi-talented, and I approach life with curiosity, optimism, and a sense of adventure with enthusiasm—about almost everything that catches my attention. Since this is true, I have engaged and pursued a multitude of projects, 'careers' and occupations. Writing being the one constant passion, I've never been able to balance both it and other jobs as I would hope, but I've never considered juggling a theatre career and a day job as a playwright’s shame—I suppose it should be claimed as a superpower. It certainly improves my art. And the art enhances my living. 

 

The official line: I'm a certified Spiritual Director, ordained minister of the Christian faith, and have extensive training in Intimacy Therapy. I'm a storyteller who believes the soul of our stories rests within our true selves.   

 

The bottom line: I believe one's true self is the most elusive thing in life. Easily lost. Hard to find. It requires an awakening at the deep levels of your being to face the reality of your false self, surrender to self-awareness and walk through vulnerability to embrace courage over comfort and abandon our entire, pervasive, deeply entrenched matrix of self-referenced being.

 

My current personal mantra is It is never too late to be what you might have been. —George Eliot

 

I was born in Kansas City, Missouri. I attended High School in the 1980s. My wife, Kelly, and I met on a school bus. We went to college in south Missouri, dated for six years, and have been married since 1993. We moved to Texas in 1994, where I worked as a freight supervisor (abandoning a restaurant career) and began to seriously pursue writing and produced my first comic script. In 1999, we moved to Columbia, Missouri where we continue to reside. We have two adult children.