Last week, I got to connect with Bay Area artist Julie Crothers. Julie is an incredible performer, choreographer, and teaching artist. Her solo show – Are You There God? It's me, Jules – premieres at Noh Space in San Francisco this Friday and Saturday, April 15 and 16, at 7pm. Tickets here.

Today on the blog, Julie shares a bit about her latest project.

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Can you offer the elevator pitch about your show?

Are You There God? It’s me, Jules is a rambunctious, cheeky, and sweetly irreverent one-woman show incorporating dance, theater, story-telling, and song. Inspired by my experience growing up in a conservative Church of Christ church Tennessee and the many summers spent at "Jesus Ballet Camp," Are You There God? It’s me, Jules is a coming-out story of sorts and a grand celebration of all things bright, bold, and gay. 

Who are solo artists who have inspired and impressed you over the years with the solo format (dancers or other artists)?

Oooh fun! I love solos so much. It’s easy to find things I appreciate and admire within them. I’m a sucker for personal narrative and have been moved and inspired by Lida Winfield, Nora Sharp, and Hannah Gadsby (watch “Nanette” on Netflix), among others. I admire the intentionality and conviction of movement in solos by Randee Paufve and Bobbi Jene Smith. Also April Joy, aka @aprilajoy, one of many brilliant ex-vangelicals I follow on TikTok, is a big inspiration for this piece and source of endless laughs. 

Can you share a little window into the dancing? Set material? Improvised?

This show is pretty much equal parts dancing and speaking. There’s a script and there are some “set” dance phrases. How well I stick to that script and those phrases? We will see! So it’s both set and improvised, or responsive. I’ll introduce a couple different characters and each has a distinct movement style and story they want to tell you. Within each of these characters’ worlds, there’s a lot of wiggle room about exactly what they say and what they dance, but there are limits as I want to stay true to who they are and the prompts that drive their scenes. Since it’s just me on stage, I get to make a lot of spur of the moment choices about how I move and what I say, and that’s one of the many reasons why I love doing solo work. 

Was there a seed of an idea for the show, or did you see several of your projects start to look and feel like a set/a grouping?

There was a seed! I didn’t even know I had planted it, but it suddenly sprouted and I was like, “OKAY! Don’t know where that came from but I’ll take it!” I spent the beginning of 2021 in residence at Earthdance in MA, and after two weeks of spending many aimless hours in the studio not sure what I was working on, I was hit hard by a brand new idea that I couldn’t ignore. It was so clear! So I ran with it, and here we are. When I look back on it, I can see how the seed had been growing for many months prior. A lot of things I had been processing in the year or so prior were finally finding their home in me and were ready and wanting to show up a little more boldly. This work is definitely new and is pushing me as a performer in exciting and challenging ways. 

On the topic of performance as a shared experience: 

A couple weeks ago I was watching a friend improvise during a performance. It was an emotional solo about love n’ stuff but as I watched her move, I saw release and I saw trust and I saw heart and I smiled the whole time. The whole time. Like so cheesy. I couldn’t help it. My cheeks were literally sore afterward. She did that, she gave me sore cheeks. And that’s what I want to do too. I want to move audiences, even just a little, even for just a moment, whether it's their heart strings or their facial muscles. I want to open my doors, to show my true self, and to offer limbs and ledges for anyone witnessing to latch on to, to rest on, to settle into. Come into my world. We can be together in this world. You witnessing me, me responding to you, perhaps us both walking away from the experience a little different, a little more soft, a little more here. 

Graphic design by Abigail Hosein.