Today we’d like to introduce you to Jennifer Blaine

Hi Jennifer, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?

I always knew I wanted to be a one-woman show. When I saw Lily Tomlin perform “The Signs of Intelligent Life in The Universe,” I heard a voice deep down inside me say, “you do that too.” I attended Wesleyan University, and I loved doing theater there. When it came time to graduate and others had secured jobs I realized I needed to figure something out to support my habit as a performance artist. I became a hands-on healer and kept acting going as much as I could, attending studio classes at HB Studio, Walt Whitcover, and Michael Howard Studios. I developed and performed my solo work at P.S. 122, The Field, The Duplex. Then in 1995 I rented out a theater on Theatre Row called The Samuel Beckett Theatre and performed my first complete solo show, “Take Another Little Piece of My Heart,” about growing up in my neighborhood, Flatbush, which is considered the “heart” of Brooklyn. From there I have continued to develop and perform solo work. The topics have ranged from white flight, gender issues, activism, often through humor and original characters. I co-led the Showstoppers program at The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts from 2013-2018, where I created four original plays on topical issues, from bullying to civil rights. I produced the “5,000 Women” festival, showcasing women artists and activists, at Wesleyan University (2011 & 2012) and Philadelphia (2014). Some of my 20+ FringeArts solo works include Sorry, White Flight, Hearing Voices, and Ridiculous. Dirty Joke, a solo show about women activists (directed by Vashti Dubois of The Colored Girls Museum), was featured at PIFA, and showcased at The Annenberg Center for the Arts. A Jennifer Story and J.B. & Friends are currently on Philly Cam. The Vicissitudes of Travel which depicts a family traveling through brain surgery has been performed in museums, theatres, Wesleyan University, Tufts Medical School, and at Jefferson Medical College, bringing together medical staff and the general public to dialogue about loss and illness. I made a musical, Mannequin, about a defunct fur store in South Philly, its elderly Jewish owner, a teenager, a mafioso, and a political activist, which explores whether we can truly be inclusive, despite the rise of intolerance and white nationalism since 2016. My current show, Getting Creative, combines characters, stand-up, and interactive processes to spark each person’s creativity and help break down our inner fourth wall.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?

There is constant challenge for sure. In fact, I use the challenges as inspiration for writing songs that I perform in my shows, such as “here are the reasons I can’t come,” about trying to get people out to my show. What else can you do but use the challenge as part of the creative process. Here is a list of struggles; being rejected from grad school multiple times, getting the part in a horror film and getting bad advice and turning it down and regretting it!, shooting a film but then the director deciding they didn’t want to edit and release it, performing in a festival for almost 30 years, but never invited to the main stage. The way I look at it, I love to perform, I see myself as an artist, people often love my work and it makes a difference for them. That keeps me going. I never know whose life I may touch in a positive way.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?

I am a solo performance artist. I may be better than anyone else at totally disappearing into a character, but then be able to switch to another and another and another. I am most proud of changing people’s lives for the better, which often happens from how I inspire people, or sometimes from my coaching at the end of my Getting Creative performance. I’m not so sure I am different than others except that I am in my 50’s and I haven’t given up on getting better at what I do. It’s almost an obsession for me.

We’d love to hear about how you think about risk taking?

Early on in my career a friend of mine, who worked in a maximum security prison, brewed up a notion. She was an English teacher for the women inmates. She asked if I wanted to come perform. I agreed and performed monologues for the women. It went well. So much so that the prison invited me back again and again and again. I did a project with about 8 women on co-creating a play together. I had them write monologues and I guided them to perform at the end of the week. It was absolutely incredible. To work with people who are confined, who have to reconcile their life choices, and support them to be creative, has been a major honor. The risk was that I did not know what would happen from moment to moment, but I trusted our collective creative process. That’s what makes me a risk-taker.

Pricing:

• Solo show $2,500
• On site coaching $3,000 for the day

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.jenniferblaine.com
• Instagram: j.blaine
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jennifer.blaine.35
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@jenniferblaine

Image Credits

Channing Billups