Profile: Julia Feeley

Student and Star in the Making

By Benjamin Heffner | Observer Contributor

At 17 years old, high schooler and dual enrollment student Julia Feeley has become a well-known fixture in productions at Mount Wachusett Community College’s Theatre at the Mount.

Feeley recently performed in the holiday show Sound of Music as Liesl, a sixteen-going-on-seventeen-year-old who’s the oldest of seven children of the Von Trapp family. Feeley enjoyed playing the role, saying she learned a lot about the character. “I learned a lot about body language and how to hold yourself on stage,” Feeley said.

Feeley’s first production was in the ensemble in the 2012 holiday show A Very Special Christmas at just five years old, fueled by her family’s own theatrical ambitions. “Seeing the rest of my family in theatre made me want to join them,” she said.

Since then, she has become a TAM regular, often starring in the holiday and teen productions, as well as the annual Broadway Bound teen summer drama program. Some of Feeley’s most recent roles with TAM, in addition to Sound of Music, include Katherine Plumber in Newsies Jr., Janet van de Graaff in The Drowsy Chaperone Jr., and Bean in Ivy and Bean. Feeley has also starred in other local community theatre productions, such as Summer Hathaway in School of Rock at Sterling Community Theatre, and was in the ensemble for Footloose and Mean Girls at Oakmont Regional High School. Feeley was recently cast as the mermaid Attina in The Little Mermaid at Oakmont, which opens in April.

Outside of theatre, Feeley is a junior at Oakmont Regional High School, and is also taking dual enrollment classes at MWCC. She’s involved with the select choir, student council, Best Buddies program, and the high school newspaper, The Oakmonitor. Outside of theatre, she also enjoys reading, being outside, and hanging out with her friends and family.

Feeley said being in theatre motivates her to strive above and beyond. “I love being on stage and having that personal experience with the cast,” she said.