{"id":158701,"date":"2026-04-06T18:23:06","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T18:23:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/158701\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T18:23:06","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T18:23:06","slug":"jennifer-childs-unpacks-life-laughter-and-her-wardrobe-in-she-gets-around","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/158701\/","title":{"rendered":"Jennifer Childs unpacks life, laughter and her wardrobe in \u2018She Gets Around\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jennifer Childs is cleaning out her closet \u2014 and unpacking a lifetime of stories.<\/p>\n

The actor, playwright, comedian and Producing Artistic Director of 1812 Productions returns to the stage this spring with her new solo show, ‘She Gets Around<\/a>,’ where outfits spark a whirlwind of characters, memories and laughs pulled straight from her own life. Directed by longtime collaborator Harriet Power, the production ditches a traditional structure, letting the audience decide the order of scenes each night.<\/p>\n

Childs recently sat down with Metro<\/a> to discuss the show’s inspiration, the challenge of unpredictability, and the stories \u2014 and clothing \u2014 we hold on to.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In ‘She Gets Around,’ every outfit in your closet has a story to tell. Are these stories drawn from real-life experiences? Why did this idea feel right for a stage production?<\/p>\n

All of the stories are drawn from my real life experiences. Some are personal narratives that share the story directly, and others are told through characters or through music and dance, but all contain kernels of my real life experience.\u00a0 \u201cCleaning out my closet\u201d in this context is a metaphor for looking back at who I have been and tried to be as I attempt to figure out who I\u2019m supposed to be next.\u00a0 Changing clothes and sharing characters through sometimes outlandish costumes felt very theatrical with lots of opportunity for visual comedy as well.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve created more than 20 original works with 1812 Productions. What draws you back to the solo format and what makes this piece stand apart from your previous solo shows?<\/p>\n

I often say that making comedy is my way of transforming fear into joy.\u00a0 That is never more true than with my solo work.\u00a0 It allows me to grapple with big life questions and find the humor, light and joy in them with the audience as my scene partner.\u00a0 The structure of this piece is very different than anything I\u2019ve made before, as it is not linear and relies on the audience to determine the order of events.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Audience members determine the order in which the characters appear each night. How do you think that will challenge or excite you as a performer?<\/p>\n

I think the biggest challenge will be finding new emotional arcs every night no matter which direction the audience takes me.\u00a0 Not to mention remembering all my lines when they are out of order! It will keep me on my toes and demand that I am really in the moment each night with the audience. That is exciting!<\/p>\n

This piece explores the tension between \u201cgood girls\u201d and \u201cbad girls\u201d through different moments in your life. Have your own definitions of those labels shifted over time? <\/p>\n

Absolutely. My early elementary school definitions were very simplistic and binary.\u00a0 Like, bad girls cursed and good girls didn\u2019t.\u00a0 As I got older, I realized that it\u2019s a lot more complicated \u2014 there were plenty of \u201cgood girls\u201d who may not curse, but are horrible human beings and \u201cbad girls\u201d who curse all the time, but are generous and compassionate. I\u2019m also interested in how we define and judge our own and each other\u2019s actions as good and bad.\u00a0 The characters in the show explore all different kinds of \u201cbeing bad\u201d and \u201cbeing good\u201d from actually breaking the law to just eating too many carbs.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘She Gets Around’ is directed by your longtime collaborator Harriet Power. In which ways was she most helpful in sharpening or clarifying the piece?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Harriet is a gifted dramaturg as well as director, so having her as a sounding board during the writing process as well as the rehearsal process is always valuable.\u00a0 She is so smart about play structure and asking questions that get to the center of a scene or character journey.<\/p>\n

Is there a character from the show that you relate to the most in real life?<\/p>\n

Oh, that\u2019s hard!\u00a0 As I said, they are all a piece of me so there\u2019s something for me to love and relate to in each of them.\u00a0 There\u2019s a middle-aged Little Orphan Annie who\u2019s been sent back to the orphanage who is pretty close to my heart.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Every closet has the one piece you can\u2019t let go of \u2014 does yours, and what\u2019s the story behind it?<\/p>\n

I\u2019m embarrassed to say there are too many \u2014 things that don\u2019t fit me anymore, but I know they will once I lose that five pounds, or concert tshirts I hang onto for sentimental reasons, but never wear, or that pair of linen pants that still have the tags on them and I\u2019m just waiting for the right occasion to wear them.\u00a0 The one piece that comes to mind though is a burgundy dress I wore to the rehearsal dinner prior to my wedding.\u00a0 It reminds me of standing on the precipice of an event that would change my life and be one of my biggest adventures.<\/p>\n

‘She Gets Around’ runs from April 24 to May 17 at Plays & Players Theatre. Tickets are available at 1812productions.org.<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\tKeywords<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tJennifer Childs,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t She Gets Around play,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t 1812 Productions,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t Philadelphia theater,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t Philly theater scene,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t Jennifer Childs interview,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t solo comedy show Philadelphia,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t Plays and Players Theatre,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t Philadelphia stage productions,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t Harriet Power director\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jennifer Childs is cleaning out her closet \u2014 and unpacking a lifetime of stories. The actor, playwright, comedian…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":158702,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[28532,71860,28533,71856,69,71,70,71859,48275,71855,71858,71854,71857],"class_list":["post-158701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-1812-productions","tag-harriet-power-director","tag-jennifer-childs","tag-jennifer-childs-interview","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news","tag-philadelphia-stage-productions","tag-philadelphia-theater","tag-philly-theater-scene","tag-plays-and-players-theatre","tag-she-gets-around-play","tag-solo-comedy-show-philadelphia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=158701"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158701\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/158702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=158701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=158701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=158701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}