Julia grew up in the northwest mountains of Maine, working and playing in the woods. After graduating from Middlebury College with a degree in theatre and political science, she moved to Washington D.C where she started her professional acting career. She worked with some of the best theatres in the community, including training and performing with the highly physical Synetic Theatre, and joining Actor's Equity Association at the historic Ford’s Theatre.
After moving to NYC, she began studying with master clown teacher Chris Bayes, eventually completing a pedagogical apprenticeship with him. She's studied with other clown masters including Philippe Gaulier in France, Aitor Basauri, and Dody DiSanto. Julia has immersed herself in the beautiful and strange world of theatrical clown through performing, producing, directing, and teaching. She also completed an MFA from Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Academy for Classical Acting at George Washington University. Shakespeare: very serious stuff.
Julia makes funny feminist theatre, performs in plays new and old, teaches clown to actors, and strives to build community around creativity and joy. She lives in Manhattan with her husband and daughter.
Want to collaborate? Contact her at julia@juliaproctor.com
As an actor, Julia has performed and workshopped new plays with Arena Stage, The Kennedy Center, Ford’s Theatre, New Dramatists, The Lark, Project Y, Cincinnati Playhouse, and Round House Theatre among others. She’s a founding member of The Funny School of Good Acting’s Commedia Company, devising and improvising irreverent comedy with a bunch of other masked fools. Julia is a proud member of Actor's Equity.
Her full resume and training can be found here.
Julia is the founder and director of Clown Gym, an accessible weekly lab for artists to study theatrical clown and games.
Julia has trained in, and teaches, clown, neutral mask, commedia dell’arte, improv, stage combat, Shakespearean acting and text, and movement for the actor. She’s a faculty member at Pace University, Middlebury College, and the National Theater Institute at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center.
Julia loves the creative process. She produced and co-starred in "An Unapologetic Mess: a clown show!," a monthly show at The People’s Improv Theatre, sharing her own work and mentoring emerging artists.
Her original work has been produced by Clown Gym, Project Y Theatre Company, Dutch Kills Theatre Company, and The People’s Improv Theatre. She's also a director, and runs the theatre department at Brown Ledge Camp in Vermont.