For Jennifer Blaine, the Philadelphia Fringe Festival is more than an annual arts event. It has been a three-decade-long home for her one-woman shows.
This year, the South Philly resident returns with “Raw Deal,” a new solo comedy that takes aim at the continuing challenges women face — and asks whether laughing about them might help change them.
Blaine will perform the show on Sept. 25 and 26 at Mister John’s Music, 904 S. 9th St., in the Italian Market neighborhood. A third performance is scheduled for Oct. 2. All shows begin at 8 p.m. Tickets at www.jenniferblaine.com are $28.
The setting is familiar territory for Blaine. She has participated in the Fringe since its first year in 1997 and has created 18 original solo performances for the festival.
“Raw Deal” combines stand-up comedy, character work, impersonations and personal stories to explore what Blaine describes as the “raw deals” women continue to encounter, from unequal household responsibilities to battles over women’s rights.
The show also brings back several of Blaine’s recurring characters, including Ruth, her foul-mouthed Jewish grandmother, and Danny, an “everyman” who dispenses dating advice.
Blaine also takes on a variety of real-life figures, including etiquette expert Emily Post, comedian Nate Bargatze and author Marianne Williamson.
The result, according to Blaine, is intended to be funny without losing sight of the frustrations behind the jokes.
“My art form is the solo show, and it’s always an evolving craft where I employ the crucible of transformation,” Blaine said. “Some shows have been pure stand-up, some have 12 characters with no narration, some have songs, some are highly interactive, some are satirical. ‘Raw Deal’ combines many of these elements, along with some personal confessions of raw deals in my life that I believe will resonate in their absurdity and universality.”
She described “Raw Deal” as a combination of stand-up, songs, satire, interaction and personal stories. And there are many to choose from.
Blaine marched for the Equal Rights Amendment as a girl before studying women’s studies at Wesleyan University. Her previous Fringe work has tackled subjects ranging from women’s activism to family illness. Her 2017 show, “Vicissitudes of Travel,” followed a family dealing with a loved one’s brain surgery and was later presented at medical facilities and universities, including Jefferson and Tufts Medical School.
Blaine has also performed alongside comedians including Chris Rock and George Carlin and was a resident theater teaching artist at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, where she created plays addressing topics such as bullying and civil rights.
She has remained particularly active in Philadelphia’s arts community, including producing the 5,000 Women Festival, which brought together women artists and social activists.
The Fringe has recognized Blaine as one of its longtime “Seasoned Artists,” a group of performers and companies that have participated in the festival at least 10 times.
For Blaine, “Raw Deal” is both another chapter in a long-running artistic experiment and an opportunity to bring audiences together around issues that can otherwise feel heavy.
She describes the show as a celebration of the often-quiet struggles involved in challenging the patriarchy — with the hope that audiences can recognize something of their own experiences in the absurdity.
And in a neighborhood where theater, music and other arts regularly spill beyond traditional stages, Blaine’s latest Fringe appearance offers a particularly local version of that idea: a longtime Philadelphia performer bringing a new story to a small South Philly room and inviting the audience to laugh along.
“With this show, I celebrate the sometimes quiet, solitary struggle we are going through to overthrow the patriarchy, each in our own unique way,” she said. ••
