Julie Skrzypek
@julieelucille with a Greek diner cup in a cemetary.
-Theatre-
“Let’s do a sunrise picnic” she said.
“It will be fun!” she said.
I pull into the cemetery just before sunrise. I wasn’t sure I was going to make it. I tumbled out of my car dressed as a fair impersonation of the Michelin Man and waddled over to Julie’s car to help unpack the multiple blankets and breakfast essentials.
I’d been thinking about Julie a lot as we approach the year mark for Covid. I was with her when we got the news that our beloved community would be closed up for a while. We were on a much needed vacation that would be my last for a long time.
We had no idea what the next year would bring. But for better AND worse, we are back together again to reflect on how far we have come.
Interviewed 1.18.21
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Casey: All right, so first and foremost, Julie, can you talk a little bit about where we are?
Julie: We're in a cemetery.
Casey: What time is it, Julie?
Julie: It is seven thirty-ish in the morning.
Casey: What's the temperature outside, Julie?
Julie: Negative zero.
Casey: And why did you want to come out here?
Julie: Well, it's sunrise, you know, Sunrise Tour 2021. That's now what I'm doing. I just thought it was funny, but I don't know. I was thinking about it and I had been waking up on my own anyway, like every morning. And I've been able to catch the sunrise and that's something I really like anyway.
So I was like sitting in my office doing some work in the morning and I thought of you and I was like, “Oh, why don't we do it at sunrise? That would be really beautiful. And we could have like little snacks and tea and that kind of thing.” So I was envisioning it on the floor in my office at first. And you see how quickly it's turned into this ceremonial ritual here. It's a solid spot, I think. And it's quiet. And what a great view of the city too.
Casey: So how are you doing today? I know it's still early.
Julie: I'm doing well. Yeah, I'm doing really well. I feel pretty solid. Today.
Casey: How have the last couple weeks been?
Julie: Great. You know, New Year, New Me! Just kidding. But I wasn't in Georgia for the New Year. I was in Colorado so this is my second week back in Georgia and Atlanta. And we turned Georgia blue for the Senate. So that's really exciting. So there's so many things to be very proud of, you know?
I think the last couple of weeks have been a whirlwind. A lot to process. I think I'm very, very much still in process. You know, you've got these really strong inspiring and hopeful circumstances right alongside some of the nastiest things I've ever seen so it's just very much that... Middle.
Casey: You feel like you're riding the middle?
Julie: Yeah. Well, I think I'm balanced now. I can deal with information in a less chaotic way.
Emotionally anyway, it's really hard to explain because you have your valleys and you have your peaks personally and then globally and then in your community. And they're all sort of on that same wavelength riding each other. So ups and downs. I personally feel like I have made a choice a long time ago in how I'm going to wake up and move forward every day. And if I can accomplish that, then I think I'm in a good place, you know? And that's not to say that I've neglected anything around me that's in pursuit to making a better world around me. Slow and steady.
Casey: That's a great mindset to have. How is what you are creating sustaining you? I know we're not in theaters and we're not doing art the same way we were doing before, but we've also been at this quarantine mess for over a year.
Julie: Its process. I've always sort of been a person of process and I think it's that joy in process as an artist. I'm creating every day. Who knows what that is. It is different every single day.
Casey: What have been some of the things recently you've been creating?
Julie: I've been doing a lot more photography. I've turned very much inward, so I've been creating a lot of personal work. And just small things. I've been working on my house, which has been a real big personal project of mine as well. I've sort of curated every square inch of my home and all the things that I've put in it have come from somewhere or from someplace that means something to me. So those kinds of things, but I think that's kind of been getting me through. I know it's really hard that our business has changed and that we don't have the same medium, but we're still storytellers. We're still creators. So I think it's just sort of... Rearranging the language. That's kind of where I'm at.
Casey: What have you learned about yourself in the last 10, 11 months? Have you changed?
Julie: I hope so.
Casey: Do you think it's been more of a change or less of a change than you would have had without covid?
Julie: It's more of a change. Thousand percent. Oh yeah.
Casey: What do you think has changed then?
Julie: Oh my God. Just so much stuff. I just feel like I navigate a little differently. I went into the pandemic in probably the hardest point of my life.
Or I feel that way anyway. I mean we were together too. I couldn't stay awake. I was working so much. I think before our trip I was up the day before until I think maybe five or something in the morning and still hadn't packed. Making schedules and stuff and trying to make stuff so when I'm gone that people have what they need. I was just doing a lot. I was overwhelmed a lot. But I think now I just manage my time a lot better. So I think that's the biggest thing. I navigate my choices a lot smarter. I'm just more thoughtful, I think. I've slowed down. Which I don't think I've done before. I was very instantaneous. I'm a very active, action-driven person. I'm like, “OK, this is what's happening. This is what we're going to do.” And I think I've just sort of flipped, you know.
Casey: How hard do you think that's going to be to maintain when we go back to theater in a more in-person way?
Julie: I don't know. So I've worked in a couple of theater settings and I've seen it happen again and I've seen it in myself. But now I recognize it, you know what I mean? I know what those things look like. I just kind of check it like, “Oh, this is where you're at and this is what you can do and you're going to make a different choice.”
Casey: What's kind of running through your head when you think about where you were a year ago and how different it was and where you hope to be a year from now?
Julie: Yeah, that's such a good question. I've kind of tried not to look back, you know? I've looked at like photos and I've looked at like I've kind of - you get those reminders on your phone and like they're fun.
Casey: But also sometimes very upsetting.
Julie: Yeah. You're like, "Oh shit! Noooo!" Actually, I look at them with so much gratitude and so much inspiration, but I lived that moment already, I've done that. I think I only go back to get lessons or get information about myself. Hitting a year, it kind of feels like it doesn't really mean anything to me because I feel very much in the middle of it, if not the cusp. I don't know what's going to happen next. I know that I wasn't a believer of like, "It's ending in 2021!" You know, "We're going back!" I'm not in the mindset. I don't even know what that means... to go back. So many people have suffered and died. You can't go back. You have to honor that and move forward, you know, in a stronger, positive way or else what are we doing? Waiting?
I'm in that present mindset of, “OK, how do I lead with kindness? How do I navigate the world that I feel good about the day and I have existed in it in a way that I'm very proud of?”
Casey: I feel like you were doing that before, though.
Julie: I hope so. I mean, that's fuckin' always the goal.
But, you know, I guess maybe my pursuits were a little more selfish in the past, you know? I had goals and dreams that were really rooted in myself. Of course, with other people because you have to, you know what I mean? I don't even feel like you have to talk about it. It's so understood. You need people. But I do feel like my goals and stuff were very self-driven. I had blinders on a lot of the time just because I was like, “OK, I don't know what A, B and C are, but I have to get C, so, work, work, work, work, work.” And now it's not so much that sort of process.
Casey: Is there anything you want to remember or take away? We don't know when this is going to end. But what do you want to take away from this covid experience that you've had so far?
Julie: I'm going to be cheesy and say all of it, first. I think little moments between people, you know.
Casey: Because they've been so few?
Julie: They're so few. Yeah. Been so few. And I've actually - I never really do this, but I've actually sort of been watching people. You know what I mean? Like when you're far away or just observing in the car or whatever, but just moments between people too. I think at one of our protests, I was hugged by a friend and that was just 1) unexpected. And then 2) it meant a lot to me. And those little interactions.
I was on a train two weeks ago or a week ago, and there's this guy and he was on the opposite side of me, always in my diagonal where I can see him. And he had to be older than me, but was so fucking happy to be on that train. And I was watching him because I was drawn to him. He was just so happy to be there. And I found out later he rides it once a week. Just to see the views and stuff. So just like those little precious moments that are sort of not nonchalant, not talked about, those kinds of things. That's what I really want to remember, I think. But we'll see.
