Passionate about learning and growing as an artist, Julia spent five seasons at the Tony award-winning La Jolla Playhouse in a variety of administrative and artistic roles. In the role of Director of Education & Outreach, she acted as the executive producer of the POP Tour productions titled EMILY DRIVER'S GREAT RACE THROUGH TIME AND SPACE by A.A. Brenner and Gregg Mozgala and LIGHT YEARS AWAY by Laura Schellhardt. She oversaw multiple programs that served over 30,000 students, teachers, and patrons with a team of over 100 staff and volunteers. Program highlights include the JumpStart Theatre program, Arts Academy, an arts integration whole school professional development program, and YP@LJP, a summer training program in performance and technical theatre.
She has been a teaching artist with La Jolla Playhouse, Educational Theatre Association (EdTA) and iTheatrics. As a teaching artist, she was one of ten in the nation selected to create the National Cornerstone Assessment for Theatre. She currently is a Teacher Leader in the Connected Arts Network, a program funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Assistance for Arts Education Program. Each Teacher Leader receives extensive training in aligning curriculum to the CASEL Framework for Social and Emotional Learning. In addition, the network focuses on how to support teachers in using diversity, equity and inclusion strategies into the theatre classroom. This training will prepare each Teacher Leader to lead an online professional learning community to share resources and provide support.
She has been an educator of Acting and Musical Theatre at San Diego State University, University of California, Irvine, and the Elizabethan Drama Center in Taipei, Taiwan. She currently is the Director of Theatre at Grants Pass High School and holds a teaching credential in Theatre and English. Her curriculum can be found on EDTA's Theatre Educator Pro website and in the Teacher's Guide of ACTING IN MUSICAL THEATRE 3rd Edition by Joe Deer and Rocco Dal Vera. She also has acted as an editor for Digital Theatre+, an online theatre education resource platform.
As an AEA actor and director, she values the creative process and loves mirroring life to an audience through live storytelling. Favorite moments include collaborating with B.D. Wong and Wayne Barker on their new musical MISTER DOCTOR and acting in La Jolla Playhouse's Theatre for Young Audiences production titled HOME OF THE BRAVE. And, she has directed over 20 productions, in educational and professional settings. One favorite production was CABARET at Coronado Playhouse where the cast and crew raised over $5000 for the Anti-Defamation League.
Committed to "being the change", she is an ally to students and colleagues in Black, Latinx, LGBTQIA+, and Indigenous communities. She served as the Artistic Trustee at Diversionary Theatre, the third oldest LGBTQIA+ theatre in the country. She believes as an ally, her role is to call out and work to change injustices in our systems, our culture, and in our own world-views.
Enjoy learning more about Julia by visiting this site. Please reach out if she can contribute to the success of your next project as actor, director or educator.
