10 Jul F30 Countdown – Julia Doolittle

With twenty-seven days to go until the festival begins, let’s introduce Julia Doolittle!

Julia’s work has been developed at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, Rattlestick Playwright’s Theatre, The Tank, Tiny Rhino, The Women’s Project, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Urban Stages, and Rogue Machine Theatre. She is a 2016 recipient of the Elizabeth George Commission from South Coast Rep.

When did you start writing plays? If you had a moment where you realized you wanted to write, what was it?

I’ve always told people that my life as a playwright began my junior year of college, but I recently resurrected a hardrive and found a real emo short play I wrote when I was like, seventeen. The stage directions are the worst, they’re the written equivalent of the “wooooooowww” they do in that recurring SNL sketch about High School theater.  I can see seventeen year old me with her unfortunate side bangs typing away to Green Day and thinking, “you are raw, Doolittle”. 

How did you come to write your OOB play? Was there a particular inspiration behind its creation? How has it developed?

Oh Jesus. I feel like so many of the plays in this festival will be beautiful, while mine is straight up stoner comedy.

I’m aiming to revive Chekovian Vaudeville in a sense. I’ve written more short plays on the theme of “holy shit, what are these young people doing with their absurd lives?”

This particular play was inspired by a friend of a friend who found out her boyfriend was cheating on her after she got gonorrhea. (Gross, but true.) It’s definitely also vaguely inspired by the absurd online marketing classes I took at one point for a day-job.

What are 5 words that describe who you are as a playwright?

Irreverent, grounded, nasty, empathetic, honest.

What/who are some of the major influences on your writing?

Kenneth Lonergan, Bash Doran, Michael Chabon, Chris Shinn, Nora Ephron, Jez Butterworth.

What’s one fact someone would never guess about you?

My front teeth are fake! They got knocked outta my head when I was kid. 

What are some of your favorite plays?

This is Our Youth, Kin, Marjorie Prime, Othello, The Glass Menagerie

Any new projects you’re working on or shameless plugs?

Check out my webseries co-created with Jacob Basri and Raven Pierson. Footprints in The Sand chronicles the misadventures of the world’s worst Off-Off Broadway Theatre company. It’s a Chris Guest style mockumentary that’s brutal and beautiful. www.watchfootprintsinthesand.com 

Her play Associates in Communications will be performed on August 9th at 8pm.  It centers around Garrett, and the fate of Associates degree which hangs in the balance of his online midterm. But the course of a for-profit education never did run smooth.