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LOL WITH IT: Q&A with local storyteller Hillary Rea
Every Friday, Ryan Carey covers the people and events that are giving Philly the giggles. Today: Ryan chats with local comedic storyteller Hillary Rea.
LOL WITH IT: Q&A with local storyteller Hillary Rea
Every Friday, Ryan Carey covers the people and events that are giving Philly the giggles. Today: Ryan chats with local comedic storyteller Hillary Rea.
City Paper: Are you a teacher like most Philly comedians?
Hillary Rea: I teach acting to elementary-school kids [at the Arden], and I also teach at the 
Kimmel Center. I do classes there for school groups that come on field trips.
CP: How did you get into Storytelling?
HR: Last summer, I did this artist's residency at Elsewhere in Greensboro, N.C. This crazy old lady, who was a hoarder, used to live amongst her horded belongings from 1940 to 2000, and then died. Her grandson graduated from Penn and went down to her house and decided to turn it into an artists’ studio and gallery. It's a residency where you get a month to go live at this place and work on your art. [I went] last June] … thinking, "I'm not an artist, this is gonna be so weird, everyone's gonna be running around naked ... " The project I ended up doing … I began writing down some of my stories. Eventually I was like, "Now I get it, this is what I do." I spent this last year working on those stories, adding jokes in there when I could or re-working them for performance and things like that. I think there are some storytellers who make a living as comedic public speakers, so I'm trying to find a way to get that somehow into my life.
CP: You got to open for Michael Showalter. How'd you get that sweet gig?
HR: I saw an ad in City Paper that he was coming [on his book tour] that said "Michael Showalter + TBA". I saw that and thought, "Oh that's cool, I wonder how I can try to open for him." My boyfriend was like, "Send him a tweet!" [I tweeted that I wanted to open for him] … and right away he was like, "Send me your reel!" So I did but I never heard back from him. Then I went to his book signing at Penn, and I went up to get my book signed and I had this turmoil, wondering whether I should say something. I'm not really a pushy person, and I get kinda nervous around people. But I decided to say something. I told him, "Hey I tweeted you my video ... " And he immediately remembered. He cut me off, "Oh, I completely forgot to watch your video. Why don't you just come open for me?" But the show was in like two hours! So, luckily, I already had a bunch of shows that week so I just told two of the stories that I was working on at the time, and that gave me a lot of confidence. So if there's anyone you wanna open for, just send them a tweet!
CP: Tell me about Fibber?
HR: It's four storytellers; three of them are telling true stories and the fourth one is telling a fake. I'm the only one who knows whose story isn't real. Each storyteller pitches me a true story and a fake story, and I pick which ones I want to make a nice balanced show. They each tell their story, and then they each come out for audience interrogation, which is really fun. The audience can ask questions and try to find out if there's something they can't answer about their story. Then we hand out ballots and the audience gets to vote on whose story wasn't real, and people who answer correctly get a free ticket to come back to a Philly Improv Theater show.
CP: What's your other show?
HR: I do a show called "Tell Me a Story" and May 16th is our one-year anniversary. An acquaintance owns Shot Tower Coffee on Sixth and Christian. Over a year ago they were interested in adding programming so we talked about a show where every month would be a theme and I would pick the storytellers. There is one audience storyteller slot that people can put in their names for. It's a very intimate space, a lot of the people that come are people who go to that coffee shop, or walk by. At first it was bi-monthly, and I had a tendency to bring back many of the same people, but now people email me and tell me "I'm really interested in doing this." So there's great diversity.
CP: What are the upsides of storytelling beyond getting laughs?
HR: I get so much beyond the laughs. In the heat of the moment, I get nervous and I think that getting laughs is the accolades that I need, but it isn't. Coming from a theater background, I feel like it's a beginning, middle and end performance. I'm being myself but at the same time it feels like ... you're talking about honest things. At one point they weren't very funny to you, maybe they were tragic, but now it's funny and entertaining. I'm still figuring everything out. It's hard to learn from the process when you're not using [laughs] as your measure of success.
Fibber Monday: Mon., May 7, 9 p.m., $8-$10, with T.J. Hurley, Andrew Panebianco, Sue Taney, and Andrew Whitmire, Shubin Theatre, 407 Bainbridge St., 215-592-0119, phillyimprovtheater.com.
Tell Me a Story: Wed., May 16, 7 p.m., free, with Carolyn Busa, Martha Cooney, Jaime Fountaine, Todd Shaeffer, Dave Terruso, R. Eric Thomas, Becca Trabin, Alan Williams and Andrew Jeffrey Wright, Shot Tower Coffee, 542 Christian St., hillaryrea.com.
Have a comedy event you'd like featured in an upcoming LOL WITH IT? Email the author at ryan.carey@citypaper.net or tweet him @slackerDIYtoday.
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