Spokane, Wash. native Julia Sweeney returns to her home state this weekend for an Oct. 20 performance of her critically acclaimed one-woman show, “Letting Go of God,” at the Northshore Performing Arts Center in Bothell.
In “Letting Go Of God” the former “Saturday Night Live” cast member, best remembered for her androgynous character, “Pat,” chronicles her journey from believing in God and the struggles she experienced until she arrived at finally parting ways with the concept. Along the way she describes how she first rejoined the Catholic Church, the faith she was raised in, then how she went on to study Buddhism and the New Age ideas of Deepak Chopra, until she arrived at science and discovered the scientific method.
Since her departure from SNL in the early 1990s, Sweeney hasn’t rested on her laurels. The actress, comedian and writer began her post-SNL career by penning and starring in the one-woman-show, “God Said Ha!” chronicling the poignant, hilarious, and tragic ordeal taking care of her brother battling cancer and her own cancer diagnosis. That show was made into a film by Miramax and won several awards. A CD version was later released and went on to be nominated for a Grammy Award.
Her second monologue, “In the Family Way,” describing her experience adopting a Chinese daughter, ran off-Broadway at the Ars Nova Theatre in early 2003 and then in Los Angeles to favorable reviews.
Sweeney has also appeared in several feature films, including. “Pulp Fiction,” “Clockstoppers,” “Stuart Saves His Family,” “Stuart Little,” and several TV shows, including two episodes of “Frasier” and appeared as a nun in “Sex &The City.” She served as a creative consultant on “Sex &The City” for three years and also consulted briefly on season two of Desperate Housewives.
A film version of “Letting Go of God” is currently in post-production with a possible Winter 2007 release date.
Growing up in Spokane, the oldest in a family of five children, Sweeney quickly found a talent for imitating voices and characters. Despite successful appearances in high school plays, she decided to put acting aside while she pursued her economic studies at the University of Washington.
After graduation, Sweeney headed south to Los Angeles, where she signed up for classes with the improvisational comedy troupe The Groundlings. Steadily auditioning, she continued to develop characters with the troupe. Among them is “Mea,” a character that inspired the play “Mea’s Big Apology,” which won the Best Written Play Award from L.A. Weekly in 1988 and has been developed by Sweeney into a screenplay, and “Pat,” the ambiguously gendered character which eventually became a recurring sketch on SNL.
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