Alex De Vore
We tossed as many questions as we could at local writer, performer and DJ Stephen Jules Rubin ahead of his upcoming virtual version of the Julesworks Follies Showcase, one of Santa Fe’s longest-running performances and an enjoyably weird and funky variety type show. Here’s what we learned:
What’s your name and what do you do?
Stephen Jules Rubin, and, well, I do a lot of things. I wait tables at Jambo Café and I’m a volunteer DJ and have been since [Madrid-based radio station] KMRD started six-ish years ago.
What’s your art background?
I have this thing called dysgraphia, which is very annoying. I grew up on the East Coast in one of the worst public school systems in the country and was banned from art classes for having dysgraphia. Santa Fe was the first place I lived where I wasn’t called weird for being who I am. I’m not a musician, but love music. And acting. I’ve always been a writer; a little bit of everything. I’m a dabbler. I may not be good at anything, but I don’t mind trying everything.
What is dysgraphia?
Basically, it’s an impediment or learning disorder, and the only people who really know about it are the few people who have it and educators. As it happens, my mom is an educator. Short answer? Our perception is off. Our dimensionality is off. I can’t catch a ball. Everybody sees things differently, but I see things differently. I think I don’t see things in 3D like people do. Some people probably never know they have it. It’s an annoyance, but since most people haven’t heard of it, it sounds like you’re making excuses.
Where on the East Coast did you grow up?
Baltimore, mostly, but partly Virginia. I have a lot of cousins in New York, and I lived there briefly.
How did you end up in Santa Fe?
My uncle has always lived here. I’d visit, always loved it, though I didn’t know I was going to move here. I was miserable in New York—came here one April knowing only that I was fleeing New York.
Did you go to college for arts?
My major was Latin American studies, my concentration creative writing.
Where?
University of Virginia.
Did you graduate?
Yeah.
Have you been out of country?
The first time I was out of the country was a high school exchange to France. And for my grandparents’ 50th anniversary—my grandpa didn’t go, because he had a fit of some kind, but the rest of us spent a month in the south of France.
Looking at now, today, what is the Julesworks Follies and what’s the elevator pitch?
The elevator pitch, better known as the bathroom pitch—it’s a live variety show. George RR Martin said we were trying to bring vaudeville back and he was correct. It is meant as a safe environment for performers. Anybody can be involved and perform for a live audience or a digital/virtual audience.
How long have you been doing the show?
For a decade. Our 63rd live show was going to happen at the end of April 2020.
Why did you want to go variety/vaudeville?
I’m someone who had been in plays early and I started getting a hankering to do something, but given life, getting older, I didn’t have a full script. At first there was more playlets and serious things. I would never call it a comedy show, but we had a running joke that we wanted to shut down every venue in town.
Do you take on anyone who wants to try?
Absolutely, whether it’s somebody who’s performed or never performed.
How close to your ideal vision of the program have you come?
I don’t have one, to be honest. But the way it has come together is far beyond my vision.
Santa Fe seems to have more than its fair share of theater troupes, how does yours carve out its own identity?
That’s a tough one, and we’re certainly lucky to have found a venue any time we’ve needed one. If your’e trying to make money out of theater, not only are you in the wrong society, you’re in the wrong town, so I think the thing is to just do it. If you want to do it, just do it. Living in Santa Fe a long time helps, because you know people. My advice? Start smaller.
The dreaded pandemic question—did you get more creative during COVID-19? Less?
Both? One thing I’ve said for a long time now is that there’s a ‘B’ word not in my lexicon, being boredom. When people were crying about being stuck at home during lockdowns, I was like ‘Why don’t you let me stay at home and be creative?’ The pandemic became a horrible thing pushing us to do something that we’re not going to stop doing, which is having an online presence. I had to learn a whole bunch of technical stuff, and I now have the best non-Apple products for editing radio and video. I took the time to learn to do it, and it wasn’t easy. I want to help people if I can. I’d love for it to build into more, but, knock on wood, having aired at least 10 live streams by now, I can livestream pretty competently.
Julesworks Follies End of Monthly Showcase: 5 pm Saturday, Sept. 25. Free. bit.ly/3Cwk9V3
