Julie is a new work inspired by August Strindberg’s Miss Julie. The play takes place in a kitchen on a hot mid-summer night.  Necessity knows no rules. Eddie Shields is a NYC/Boston based Actor/Director currently living in Brooklyn, with credits that include Playwrights Horizons, Actors’  Shakespeare Project, Berkshire Theater Festival, Midtown International Theater Festival and  many more theaters across the U.S.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eddie Shields (Writer/Director of Julie) & Sarah Elizabeth Bedard (Actor; Julie)

We hear a lot about inspiration – or Muse – that drives an artist. What inspires you?

E:  I’m consistently inspired by this generation of artsits.  We are the most diverse and progressive   generation in Herstory.  A lot of the well known classic female characters are so complex and   beautiful! I’m always trying to surround myself with Intelligent, complicated, odd people.

The other two actors in Julie are exactly that.

Maria Jan Carreon (Kristine) is one of the most honest actors I know.  She can make you laugh like   you’ve never laughed before and then in the same moment bring you to tears.

Sarah Elizabeth Bedard (Julie) is the perfect Julie.  She’s fearless and a true athlete on the stage.    She’s one of my muses.  Julie  will be our 13th show in the last 5 years together!

 

Tell us about why you wrote this and why it’s important enough to become a film?

E: It was important in 1888 (and initially censored and banned), and see how relevant Julie is today is    scary.  Although the play is considered classical the issues and dilemmas in Julie are extremely modern.

 

What is your vision and process for the play/part

S:  I see the character of Julie as more like a contemporary woman living in this world than  she’s usually thought of as. Is she self-indulgent and impulsive sometimes? Absolutely. But so aren’t we all. Julie lives in a world in which taking action based on that ever common self-indulgence and impulsiveness has dire consequences—and women today still face life-threatening consequences  for making such bold and whimsical choices like wearing an outfit that makes us feel sexy or having the audacity to have abundant self-confidence or take the risky chance to walk home alone at night in a city that we love. I want to bring Julie home and into the lives of everyone who is in the theatre.

 

What do you want most in your chosen profession? It’s OK to say “fame” or “wealth.”

S:  I want to never stop creating and being a part of art that means something to me and can change      the world around me.

E: Freedom

 

Sally Field and Paul Newman both said of their profession… “it’s all I can do.” Is this all you can do?

S: I’m afraid this is it.

E:   Who’s Sally Field?

 

Along those lines, if you couldn’t do this, what would you do?

S: I’d find a way back in.

E: I would do lots of Drugs.

 

How do you want [legit] history to remember you?

S: I want history to remember me as an artist who never stopped striving for better—better art, better   world, better self.

E: Something to do with Chekhov…

 

Last words? 
S: I wonder what’s next.

E:  Hopefully a 14th show for Sarah and I…