Don’t Take Yourself Too Seriously: Julia Moore on Her Senior Play, the Underside of Trees and Lizzy McAlpine

By Abby Ruriani

Julia Moore has bright pink hair and an even brighter smile. In conversation, she giggles, plays with her hair and talks with her hands. She is an open book and puts her heart into everything she does, including all assignments for her playwriting/screenwriting major. She disagrees with the general consensus that Purchase’s campus is hideous, loves the outdoors and has a play she wrote for her senior project being put up on April 24-26 in Campus Center South.

Moore at The Brazen Fox in White Plains, a Valentine’s Day tradition (Photo by Julia Moore)

Was Purchase always a top choice of yours?

Not originally. I wanted to go [to college] for musical theater, and I wanted to go to Fredonia. Then I got in, and my parents were like, “That’s too far away. [Pick] somewhere else.” My senior year of high school, I was like, “You know what? Screenwriting/playwriting sounds dope. I’m gonna change it to that.” Out of all the schools that I had already been accepted into, Purchase had the best program for that major. So, I was like, “Purchase it is!”

Okay, you were originally musical theater! You don’t know why, it just came to you one day?

I was taking a film class in high school and a writing class. I combined them both. I started writing screenplays in the writing class for the film class. I didn’t even really know what screenplays were at the time.

You said you got involved in writing by happenstance. So, how did you come up with your senior play?

I had started crashing out about the fact that I was going to be graduating soon. I started to reminisce on what it was like to be younger, before all the pressure. So, as a way of therapy, [I began] writing out these memories I had. I tried to describe them in the ways that I felt, or the emotions that I had attached to them, as a way to hold onto that younger version of myself.

I had written a bunch of these short monologues. I was struggling to figure out what I wanted to do for my senior project. For a different class, I decided to put all of the monologues together. Then the class had a huge, really, really positive response to it, which surprised me a lot. I decided, “Oh, well, I’ll make a little play for this class.” Then I had this idea; you know, two birds, one stone, what if I bring this over to Junior Seminar and see what they think?

Could you think of a memory that was kind of the jumping-off point?

I actually know which one started it off! It’s such a small part of the entire play. When I was younger, because I live in the woods in upstate New York, I would lay down in the backseat of the car when my parents were driving. I could always tell exactly where we were in the town based on what the underside of the trees looked like. I learned to memorize them.

 And that was the first retrospective moment. You’re thinking about it like, “When did I lose this random skill? And why was it so important when I was this age?”

Did nature also have an impact on you growing up?

I definitely think so. I was a very woodsy child. I always feel super connected with trees… especially a willow tree. If I ever have a daughter, bro, I’m naming her Willow.

(From left to right) Moore, Kalliope Carmichael (Fiona), her dog Beluga and Riley Vrooman (Daniel) (Photo by Abby Ruriani)

If you could give a short synopsis of the play, what would it be?

“Snippets of a Brain” is a story about a girl named Grace. She doesn’t show up a lot within the play. It’s really a story about how the two halves of her brain work together to try to live life with her. This is under the idea that your left and right brain have different functions. The idea is that one half of the brain is more fantastical and emotion based. The other side is a lot more down-to-earth.  

Those are the three main characters. The play is almost entirely spoken by the two parts of the brain. But we do also have non-speaking roles played by shadow actors who are there to help bring the setting to life. The setting that both of my main characters, Daniel and Fiona, are in. The brain is referred to as “The Void.” It’s this dark but safe space for them to live in.

How did you decide to make Daniel and Fiona? How did you decide who is who… distinct personalities, stuff like that?

Originally, both of these characters were not human presenting. They were just things, spirits, almost. Then we realized that it might be a bit easier for everybody to personalize them if they were people.

We decided Fiona [Right-Brain] would be a girl and that she would maybe have a more bubbly personality. Daniel [Left-Brain] would be like an older brother. [He] likes to take a lot of responsibility on. Fiona’s a lot more carefree.

What would you say has been a big challenge with this project? Because it can’t all be peaches and cream.

No, it can’t! Honestly, writing the second half was a lot harder for me. We follow Grace’s life, for the most part, all the way through. I was struggling to decide if I wanted to kill her off or not. I was caught up trying to figure this out, and I wasn’t writing anything worthwhile. I went to my advisor… and my advisor had said to me, “How far do you want to take this? How long do you want this play to be?”

I took that as: I don’t know what’s gonna happen at a certain point in my own life. You can guess, and you can ponder that. I will write as far as I can imagine for her. When that point ends, that’s where my story ends.

Do you have any strategies to help with writer’s block?

I love to write either while listening to music or after. But I have to say the music almost always has to be depressing. Like… Lizzy McAlpine [an alternative/indie singer] is a huge part of this show. I actually mention her directly in it for a little bit. So much of her music has brought me to a space [where I’m able] to write some of the stuff I wrote about. It gets very serious.

Moore and Riley Smith (stage manager) (Photo by Abby Ruriani)

Your senior advisor [Peggy Stafford] was a great help to you in figuring out how the end of the show goes. I was wondering if you could talk more about that. Is there any advice she has given you that has really helped you along the way?

She told me not to take myself too seriously. I thought that was fair. I usually come to her like, “Okay, I have this done, I have this done, I need to get this done. How do we figure this out?” I come up very tactically. And she was like, “Maybe we should enjoy what you’re doing for a minute?” I just thought it was really funny, and I didn’t take it seriously at first. But I realized she was right.

So, in those moments, would you call yourself a “Daniel?”

Honestly, yes, I would [laughter]! Daniel and Fiona feel very close to myself. It feels like a constant push and pull between them both. I think they really are just in there yelling at me all the time!

Since the start of your process of writing this play was to look back and reminisce, now that you’re at the end, is there anything you would tell your younger self? Anything you want to leave us with?

Just learn to have fun with what you’re doing. Not everything has to be perfect. Not everything has to be a job. Have fun with the moment and let it happen.

 I want people to get from the story that life can be whatever they want it to be. Even if you feel you’ve passed all your best years… there is so much time. You don’t need to have it all figured out. Life will happen as it happens.