Julia Proctor is a performer, educator, and community builder. She grew up in the northwest mountains of Maine, working and playing in the woods. After graduating from Middlebury College in Vermont, she moved to Washington D.C and performed with some of the most prestigious companies in the region, including Arena Stage and the highly physical Synetic Theatre, and joined the Actor's Equity Association at historic Ford’s Theatre.
After moving to NYC in 2011, Julia began studying with master clown teacher Christopher Bayes, eventually completing a pedagogical apprenticeship with him. She's studied extensively with other clown teachers including Philippe Gaulier in France, Aitor Basauri of Spymonkey, and Dody DiSanto of the Center for Movement Theatre. She also completed the People’s Improv Theater’s Improv Program. Julia completed an MFA from Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Academy for Classical Acting at George Washington University. Shakespeare: very serious stuff.
Julia has immersed herself in the beautiful, joyful, and complex world of theatrical clown through performing, teaching, producing, directing, and coaching. She’s very proud of her business, Clown Gym, which serves a vibrant artistic community based in NYC. As the Director of Clown Gym, Julia oversees all programming and operations, which includes weekly classes, monthly coaching sessions, weekend intensives, shows, community events, and the new Clown Cohort: a year long mentorship for aspiring clown teachers.
Julia makes funny feminist theatre, performs in plays new and old, teaches games and 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 at Arena Stage, The Kennedy Center, Ford’s Theatre, New Dramatists, The Lark, Project Y, Cincinnati Playhouse, Synetic Theatre, 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. As a clown she has devised and performed her own material and hosted countless shows.
Her full resume and training can be found here.
As a teacher, Julia specializes in theatrical clown and le jeu (games) and is the founder and director of Clown Gym, an accessible lab for artists to study theatrical clown and games.
Julia also teaches commedia dell’arte, improv, Shakespearean acting and text, and movement for the actor. She’s a faculty member at the New Studio on Broadway at NYU Tisch, and has been on faculty at Pace University, Middlebury College, and the National Theater Institute at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center.
Julia’s available for private coaching and corporate team building. She recently served as Beanie Feldstein’s personal clown coach for Funny Girl on Broadway.
Her teaching resume can be found here.
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, and co-produced and hosted 20 Do the Virtual Clown Shows, a source of creativity and joy for a growing community of clowns from around the world. She currently co-produces Clown Gym’s Clown Flex, a seasonal showcase for the NYC clown community.
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 stage director, and ran the Theatre Department at Brown Ledge Camp in Vermont for five summers.
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