By Byrne Harrison
Name: Julia Sandra Rand
Play: Sunrise, Sunset or Breakfast with Julia
Relationship to play: Playwright and Actress
How did you first get involved in theatre?
I have been involved in theatre since I was a kid, singing and dancing; ballet training led to a short career dancing with the Boston Ballet Co; first Equity job acting at 19; and so on, and so on....
Several years later studying with Uta Hagen at the HB Studio, and acting in productions at the Playwrights Foundation directed by Herbert Berghof.
What is your show about and what inspired you to write it?
My play is about my ten-year journey with my mother Eva and Alzheimer's disease. I began writing these duologues while isolated in NJ as a caregiver after my father died. I wrote three before mother died, and picked it up and wrote the rest as I was trying to get back to my former life and career-so she died in July 2004 and I finished the play in 2005. There was no specific inspiration, it was an organic "talking to yourself" like one of Uta's exercises she uses in her book "Respect for Acting." And then I just simply wrote them down. It happened on random months and days, unplanned.
What made you want to perform in an eco-friendly theatre festival like Planet Connections?
Planet Connections is "theatre for a cause", and obviously I have a cause and message I want to get out. I talk in the play about our country wasting money on war, etc. Planet is an "eco-friendly" theatre festival-how appropriate!!! They are an inspiring young group of theatre professionals.
What's next for you after Planet Connections?
I would like the play to receive a commercial run, a tour, a film production-the whole nine yards. As a actress I want to do other roles, and continue my focus on Shakespeare that I began following mother's death. I am an actress first and coach--as a playwright I only wrote one previous play.
And finally, if you could go back in time and meet yourself as a kid, what advice would you give your younger self?
The only advice I might give myself as a kid if I could go back in time is: always believe in your passion, and do not listen to negative "stuff"--be tenacious.
Sunrise, Sunset or Breakfast with Julia
Written and Performed by Julia Sandra Rand
Directed by Nicole Potter
Running time: 60 minutes, no intermission
Venue: The Gene Frankel Theatre, 24 Bond Street
Performance dates:
Sat 6/12 @ 1:30pm
Mon 6/21 @ 5:30pm - Following this performance there will be a Talk back/Fundraiser at Planet Connections Lounge at 440 Studios, 440 Lafayette Street, 3rd Floor.
Weds 6/23 @ 4pm
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