Juli Crockett
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Juli Crockett is a playwright and theater director, retired (undefeated) professional boxer and amateur champion, and lead singer of the alternative country band The Evangenitals(tm).
Juli was born in Coffee County, Enterprise, Alabama on August 1st 1975. She is the daughter of writers Linda Crockett and Daniel Savage Gray.
Currently pursuing her PhD in the Philosophy of Media and Communication at The European Graduate School where she is the Director of Alumni Relations, Juli began her education in theater at Pinellas County Center for the Arts in St. Petersburg, Florida and went on to receive a BFA in Acting at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and an MFA in Directing at the California Institute of the Arts.
As a playwright, Crockett is best known for her adaptations of classic works of literature and philosophy. Her spoken word opera "(or, the whale)" -- an adaptation of Herman Melville's Moby Dick written and directed by Crockett with music by sonic artist and Avatar: The Last Airbender composer Jeremy Zuckerman-- debuted in Los Angeles in 2001. It was also presented at the 2001 Moby Dick Conference at Hofstra University and performed by the TENT group in Portland, Maine. "The Dawn of Quixote: Chapter the First", an adaptation of the first chapter of Don Quixote by Cervantes has been performed several times in Los Angeles and was featured in EdgeFest, a Los Angeles cutting edge theater festival, as well as being made part of the Saturday Explorer Series at the 24th Street Theater. Her latest work, Orpheus Crawling, an experimental opera based on the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, was composed by Zuckerman, with libretto and direction by Crockett. Orpheus Crawling was workshopped at the 24th Street Theater and premiered at the REDCAT in Los Angeles.
As a boxer, she was brought to the attention of the general public in 2005 after being featured in Sports Illustrated, US News and Music Connection Magazine due to her professional connection to Jerry Boyd (aka F.X. Toole) and the film Million Dollar Baby. A slight media storm also occurred after her first professional bout, in which she knocked out her opponent 70 seconds into the first round. The fight was televised on Fox Sports.
The Evangenitals, formed in 2003 with friends Lisa Dee and Brett Lyda, who were co-workers at JT's Stockroom at the time, have received considerable media attention in the LA Weekly, Music Connection Magazine, and other publications and radio stations for their unique brand of "hillbilly truckstop lullabies" and "love punk hippie rock". The band's first album - "We Are The Evangenitals" - received rave reviews from fans, selling out of its first printing and receiving a 5 star rating on iTunes. The Evangenitals' second album was recently recorded in South Pasadena at Del Boca Vista studios in January 2007.
Juli presently resides in South Pasadena, California where she writes and directs theater, performs with The Evangenitals & Evangina (the female duet version of the Evangenitals), serves on the CalArts Alumni Association Board of Directors as the Theater School Representative, and works as the Director of Marketing for JT's Stockroom.
