Jennifer Blaine has always felt a strong connection with her audience.
The South Philly resident and Brooklyn native arrived at a crossroads shortly after moving to the city for a relationship that fizzled out. Despite the heartbreak, the audience always had her back.
“I came here because I was engaged to be married,” Blaine said. “Within a couple years of being here, it didn’t work out. But simultaneous to that I found an audience here that was so activated and enthusiastic and I felt my creative aliveness really supported and sparked. I made a choice to stay here, believe it or not, for the audience.”
Blaine basically bet her mortgage on thriving in the local entertainment scene and won. Although she originally rented an apartment at 15th and Pine, she cemented her stay by purchasing a home in Graduate Hospital in 2003 and has lived there ever since.
After a few decades delighting audiences with her hysterical and transformational solo shows and spot-on impressions, Blaine’s connection to the crowds has grown even stronger. It’s evident in her “Getting Creative With Jennifer Blaine” series that is performed periodically in the city. Her playful interaction with the audience and breaking of the fourth wall creates a connection between the performer and the viewers.
“It’s a chance for people to laugh and be entertained,” Blaine said. “And it adds this other element that we get to be in conversation with each other and interact. In my shows, I’m always encouraging the audience to have an interplay with me, maybe in character. But people get to actually share about what’s going on with them or what they want to discover about themselves. The audience will actually talk to their neighbor and people around them. We’re playing with different skills to spark different ways of thinking and acting.”
Although the shows start with a script, Blaine often edits the show on the fly.
“I think just talking is really hard, which is why I have a script,” she said. “It feels really spontaneous and the truth is that I over-prepare. Then in the moment, I will throw things out. I will actually edit and jump over things if I’m not feeling like I’m connecting with that group. The other part is something that comes over time and that’s listening to how the audience is listening.”
And sometimes things get deep. Too deep.
“This one show, we were talking about grievances and things got really heavy and I had to bring it back,” Blaine said. “And I did. But I didn’t shut it off just because it was getting heavy. You have to be with what’s occurring. It’s almost like you’re hydroplaning. You have to go with it until you can pull it back.”
The next “Getting Creative with Jennifer Blaine,” which is the third installment of the series, is on Sept. 27 at 8 p.m. at Mister John’s, 761 S. 8th St., as part of Philly Fringe. Tickets are $25 and can be purchased at https://phillyfringe.org/events/getting-creative-with-jennifer-blaine/.
“Every single show is a totally different script,” Blaine said. “I used to write a new show every year for Fringe, but after having a child, it became a little harder to write one every year. I had gotten back to it, but with this concept, I wanted to task myself with writing a totally new idea that is broken into four shows this year. This one has a fair amount of political comedy and character crowd work, but then it has this whole other piece of the audience interacting with each other. And at the end of the show, I am myself and do live coaching.”
Aside from being a comedienne, actor and performer, Blaine is a transformational coach, certified by the Hendricks Institute, working with people all around the world. The idea to finally bridge the two sides of her life came to Blaine last year, and the “Getting Creative” series was born.
This particular show has a theme of “owning how special you are.” Blaine knows how special her audience is and how special Philly Fringe has become over the years. She’s been a participant since it began.
“It’s so important because it’s how you get to know what’s going on in the arts in your community,” Blaine said. “For me, back-to-school season is always back to Fringe. It gives artists that exposure and has people tune in and see what’s unique to Philadelphia.
“I know some of the Fringe main stages might be visiting artists but there are hundreds of artists in the Fringe that are Philly artists. For instance, all the people that were in the University of the Arts. Where will they go now? Maybe they are performing a Fringe show now. And everyone can have a way to feature their unfiltered, completely uncensored true artistic voice. It’s such a great affirmation and great ritual that this city goes through this time of year.”
