Meet Julia Rosa Sosa
Julia Rosa Sosa is a performing artist and storyteller hailing from Ciudad Juarez and El Paso, Texas. Currently based in Cleveland, OH, she is a proud alumna of the University of Texas at El Paso, where she studied Theatre and Sociology.
Julia’s specialty lies in theatre, music, and storytelling. Through her work, she explores the magic of being ordinary and emphasizes how every individual has impactful stories to share. Growing up in a dangerous and unstable place, Julia endeavors to bring messages of hope to her audiences, even if her shows are heartbreaking at times.
In 2020, Julia received the Julia de Burgos Cultural Art Center and Cuyahoga Arts and Culture In-house Residency, which enabled her to produce the US premiere of Valentina y la Sombra del Diablo. This children’s play teaches kids about consent and sexual abuse disclosure. Additionally, Julia participated in the Cuyahoga Arts and Culture and the Center for Performance and Civic Practice Learning Lab in partnership with Esperanza, Inc. In this project, she worked with a group of Latin American students living in the United States, collecting and sharing their views on various topics, including lifestyle, education, family, identity, hobbies, passions, and what it’s like to live during a pandemic. This podcast also serves as a time capsule, reflecting the present and preserving it for future generations.
Julia has contributed her skills as a songwriter and vocalist to the development of two albums for the Lunatic music project. Furthermore, she has performed across the border and bi-nationally during the Maelstrom Collective Arts window activation in 2022.
In addition to performing, Julia has also worked as a freelance theatre director, having directed and assistant directed shows in Oregon, Colorado, Arkansas, Cleveland, New York City, and Ohio. Her play, El Toro y la Nina, premiered as a radio play at the ReUnion rEvolucion | a Latinx new works Fest in 2020.
Overall, Julia Rosa Sosa’s work as a performer and storyteller seeks to share impactful stories that leave a lasting impression on her audience. Whether it’s through theatre, music, or podcasting, she is dedicated to exploring the beauty of the ordinary and the resilience of the human spirit.
Creative Impact Fund Project: El Romantico
El Romantico is Julia Rosa’s first musical. Intended to be a bilingual piece in Spanish and English, delving into the disconnect between fathers and daughters during their teenage years and how many times the ones holding their relationship together are mothers.
The story is about a father and daughter’s relationship through music. The dad is a hardworking worker who plays his guitar at social gatherings and work. The daughter is in a new school, in a new city, in a new country. Little by little, their relationship becomes more distant. She starts to develop new interests, one of which is boys. Dad is not someone she can ask for advice about boys. Mom is the one to talk to about boys; she gives good advice. What happens to the good hobbies daughter used to have with her dad, like playing the guitar and singing?
Well, they are not enjoyable anymore because Dad only talks about how the music these days sucks (but daughter likes that kind of music, does that mean Dad hates the songs she has been making and uploading to YouTube?) Mom knows they need a relationship, so she sneaks a notebook into her daughter’s backpack. In this notebook, the daughter recognizes Dad’s handwriting. In the old crunchy notebook, there are the most beautiful songs about everything she relates to.
Julia’s father passed in 2021, and her creativity shut down. She wanted to create this piece with her father, but unfortunately, it did not happen. He was a songwriter who taught her so much about music. Stay tuned for performance dates.