Jules Odendahl-James

Theatre Artist, Scholar, Activist

Only connect!

This line from E.M. Forster's Howards End comprises the heart of my theatre making philosophy. Theatre connects the past, present, and future; the real, unreal, and fantastical. It asks us to commit our physical presences and senses in a joint experience that is both ephemeral and enduring. As we experience the performance together, we are drawn into closer relationship with each other, offered a mirror through which to examine ourselves and the world around us. This experience changes our understanding of who we are. It inspires us to change the world that exists outside the theater as well as challenging us to innovate and interrogate the art form of theater itself.

With that prospect of change in mind, I produce work with an eye towards parity and inclusion. As a director and a dramaturg, I make theatre that circulates from the stage to the everyday world and back again. I have particular strength in documentary theatre/media, personal narrative performance, plays about science and medicine, and plays with social justice themes. 

I also engage "movement dramaturgy" exercises when working with student actors, blending the analytical tablework of script study with the physical exploration of character. In this work I draw inspiration from Suzan-Lori Parks' "Elements of Style":

"Language is a physical act. [...] Words are spells, which an actor consumes and digests -- and through digesting creates a performance on stage" (11).

The images to the left are from recent work as a dramaturg and director: two new plays by Jacqueline E. Lawton; She Kills Monsters by Qui Nguyen and As You LIke It by Shakespeare for Duke University; and Jaclyn Backhaus’ Men On Boats for Justice Theatre Project (Durham).