PHOTO CREDIT Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images

In her Broadway debut as Carol in David Mamet's "Oleanna," Julia Stiles welcomes the transition to stage work.

"I do like to change it up," says Stiles, reclining back in her chair to pause in thought. After twelve years of acting in Hollywood films, the actress sought to reconnect with live theater, which was what sparked her childhood love of acting. "I like sort of dipping my toes in a bunch of different mediums."

For Stiles, theater provides a sense of continuity. It also relieves her of the self-consciousness that creeps up when she has, say, an entire camera crew in her face.

"I love the process of filmmaking," says Stiles, "But as an actor, you're a part of the bigger picture.  So if you're working under a director whose vision you really respect and like, then helping them fulfill that vision is really exciting. But ... it's just much more disjointed [than theater]."

Her love of theater stems from the stage's emphasis on the here and now. "It [theater] is so in the present moment that it's easier to get over your self-consciousness."

No matter the medium, Stiles seems to attract projects with feminist overtones. From her raging non-conformist in "10 Things I Hate About You" to her housewife-to-be of 1950s Wellesley College in "Mona Lisa Smile" to Carol's aggressive force of political correctness in "Oleanna," Stiles seems to favor projects that question societal gender roles.  Stiles says she has never had an agenda when picking roles.

"It's not so much the topic, but the person or the character," says Stiles pointedly, asserting that she chooses projects based on the role, not the politics. But something new is always welcome.

In fact, after an intense drama like "Oleanna," Stiles says she wants to change it up, yet again. "I think next I'd like to do a broad comedy," she proposes, throwing her hands up in laughter.