Julia Everitt

1) Why did you choose to write horror?

I started writing horror mostly on accident. I get scared easily so I started writing the things that scared me, and it turns out, those things scare other people too!

2) What is your fav thing about the genre?

My favorite thing about horror is creating tension. That the scariest thing about horror isn’t actually the moments that are “scary,” but rather the dread and fear that builds in anticipation of a scary moment.

3) Tell us about your latest book

I am actually a playwright, so I write mostly stage plays and radio plays. My most recent horror play I co-wrote with two other women, Jazmine Cornielle and Lauren Anthony, and is called It Told Me To. In the play, the main character, Savannah, is tormented by a demon telling her to kill people, starting with her fiancé, landing her in an asylum. The torment doesn’t stop with her admission to the asylum and she continues to be tormented by the demon, as well as the ghosts of those she has killed. Doctors, attendants, and even her roommate at the asylum all doubt the reality of Savannah’s tales, and even the audience is left through most of the show to question what is real and what is not.

4) If you had one piece of advice about writing horror, what would it be?

I’d say when writing horror the focus should be put on the characters and story before focusing on making it “scary.” If you create characters who feel genuine and relatable, it will be all the more horrifying when horrible things happen to them.

5) Who are your fav women in horror? 

I must admit, I get scared very easily, so I tend to avoid watching and reading horror. I just like sleeping sometimes, what can I say? I do admire Ele Matelan’s work as a Foley artist for many horror radio and horror theatre works. 

Excerpt from the full-length play: Shh… They’ll Hear You

ALEXIS
I am, I am. But Kyla told me last night that she’s been hearing voices now and whatever.

SIMONA
Voices? What?

ALEXIS
Voices saying don’t let the red light find you.

NARRATOR
Don’t let the red light find you

SIMONA
You didn’t need to say it twice

ALEXIS
I didn’t

SIMONA
You most certainly did!

ALEXIS
I didn’t Simona

SIMONA
That’s not funny

ALEXIS 
You’re right nothing is funny?

SIMONA
Stop it! I’m not hearing things!

ALEXIS
I never said you were?

SIMONA
You didn’t say it twice?

ALEXIS
Nope… Just once.

SIMONA
Let’s go somewhere else- anywhere else

ALEXIS
Okay, if you want to. Ice cream?

SIMONA
Ice cream. (SIMONA hurries off stage,

ALEXIS lingers, pulls out phone, typing)

ALEXIS
Kyla, you have to tell me everything. (brief pause, then a ding) That was fast. (pause) I can’t come home, not now… huh. (typing again) Meet me in the park at 8pm tonight? (pause) Odd… just odd. (ALEXIS puts her phone in her pocket and rushes off stage to catch up to SIMONA)

SCENE 3 AT RISE: ALEXIS is on a bench by a sidewalk, it is evening the same day. ALEXIS sits. There is the sound of rain in the background. The stage is rather dimly lit.

NARRATOR
It was a rather dismal evening. The kind of evening you only go out on if you made plans ahead of time. A little cold. A little rainy. Unpleasant. It was an unpleasant evening.

ALEXIS
Why am I waiting?

NARRATOR
Silence.

ALEXIS
She’s not going to come.

NARRATOR
Silence.

ALEXIS
Red light!

NARRATOR
Silence.

ALEXIS
A red light! (KYLA enters) You came!

KYLA
Of course I came- (beat) what’s wrong?

ALEXIS
You must tell me about the red light. (JONES enters)

KYLA
Maybe we should go somewhere else (ALEXIS shaking KYLA)

ALEXIS
You must tell me about the red light!
KYLA
Shh… he’ll hear you.

ALEXIS
It’s a light! It’s not going to hear me! (enter MAN)

KYLA
Shh… they’ll hear you (KYLA points to JONES and MAN, MAN and JONES whisper to each other briefly and start walking towards KYLA and ALEXIS)

ALEXIS
Ohhhh-kay. Let’s go. (ALEXIS grabs KYLA’s arm and starts trying to pull her along, KYLA stands frozen) Kyla! (KYLA breaks her freeze and ALEXIS begins to pull her and JONES and MAN grab them, KYLA freezes again, and MAN injects ALEXIS with something, ALEXIS faints, JONES picks up ALEXIS, MAN takes KYLA’s hand and guides her offstage as all four exit)

(End of ACT 2)

Bio

My name is Julia Everitt and I am a NYC-based playwright. I graduated from the University of Iowa with degrees in English on the Creative Writing track and Economics with a minor in Theatre Arts. I love writing, especially for theatre and I have written thirty-two stage plays of various lengths. I have had productions of my plays, Take Me Home, Pears, and Opening Up, and an excerpt of my play, Copper Royale, and my radio plays, I Let Them Out, The Phone Booth on Sixth Street, Dark Angel and The Bubak. I also had public readings of my plays, Spooky Town, Copper Royale, Pears, an excerpt of The Wolves Are Hungry, and an excerpt of Shh… They’ll Hear You. I write work in a number of different genres including drama, comedy, horror, thriller, political, romance, existentialism, coming of age, absurdism, naturalism, etc. I also am a co-founder/co-owner of NYC’s only exclusively horror theatre company, Human Pincushion Productions.

Find Out More