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Hillary Rea could probably count many physicians and pharmaceutical companies as enemies, as she has spent four-and-a-half years having merriment make prescribed medications meet their match. The 31-year-old has crafted a commended career as a tale spinner and laugh inducer and guarantees guffaws when she hosts Wednesday’s 7:30 p.m. “Tell Me a Story: Friend and Foes” event at Shot Tower Coffee, 542 Christian St.
“South Philly is my favorite neighborhood to perform in,” the East Passyunk Crossing inhabitant said Friday at the Queen Village establishment that has served as the setting for the “Tell Me a Story” series since the brainchild’s May 2011 inception. “It’s welcoming of self-starters, and I appreciate its aesthetics, so I want to connect residents with funny people and encourage kinship throughout communities.”
In positing positivity, Rea, whose helpers for next week include Marconi native Dave Terruso, is also avoiding championing the cutthroat nature of numerous comedic showcases, as her bimonthly gatherings focus on camaraderie instead of competition. Though the themes constantly change, she keeps constant her infatuation with morphing her sensitive and dramatic sides to deliver accounts that often depend on digging for resolution among confusing circumstances.
“I like letting people into my life because they can likely relate to much of it,” the raconteur said of her material, much of which derives from an ’11 Artist-in-Residence role through Greensboro, N.C.’s Elsewhere Artist Collaborative. “I like telling the same story over and over again, as there’s always a chance to leave room to elaborate or shift the approach, but I’m hoping to generate new stuff soon and turn my stories into a book of humorous essays.”
Rea, who initiated the local celebration through a suggestion by Shot Tower’s husband-and-wife owners and who confessed her Wednesday offering will most likely deal with adding as an inadvertent adversary someone whom her Central High School inner circle disliked, loves the space’s atmosphere and intends to uphold the peace by invoking humility instead of vulgarity to foster hilarity. With a childlike filter to her creations, she favors conveying whimsy to being dirty, but no matter the scope of her content or that of her peers, she delights in delighting the masses.
“There’s tons of ways to express your comedic or storytelling enthusiasm,” Rea said. “It’s pretty apparent we’re up there to entertain and not take ourselves too seriously. The message behind ‘Tell Me a Story’ could easily be that we have to use perspective to help us to see the humor in everyday matters.”
Though humor has helped her to become a noteworthy comedian and storyteller, Rea had initially suspected her vocal chords might merit praise by belting songs, as her Center City-based upbringing revolved around singing. A musical theater buff, she found herself sold on “Rent” as a teenager and attended New York University to advance her acumen.
“I was super bored with Philadelphia and had often visited New York, so I looked forward to the chance to grow in another location,” the ebullient blonde said.
Instead of figurative fights with other figures for distinction, Rea experienced an internal battle during her Big Apple stint and came to feel she did not fit into the world of professional singing. Three years after graduation, she accepted an English teaching position in Japan, a yearlong assignment that delighted her immensely, except for the relentless endowment of snow, which she deemed far worse than this winter’s output. With comedy as a budding interest and performance as a preference through recollections of childhood time portraying funny characters, she scored an Arden Theatre Co. apprenticeship program gig while in the Land of the Rising Sun and soon developed a “true South Philly story” through the Mummers Parade.
“What an experience!” she exclaimed of her Murray Comic Club-enabled existence with the Vaudevillains New Year’s Brigade, a boon that saw her co-captain two Jan. 1 endeavors. “The Mummers and so much else have helped me to believe I can be a decent presence in the comedy world.”
Since her Sept. ’09 debut, Rea has evolved into much more than that modest description, with her website chronicling an impressive number of appearances, hosting duties and award-winning efforts, notably two First Person StorySlam stops at World Cafe Live and the April ’13 Moth StorySlam confab in Brooklyn. Having established alliances with prominent entities like The Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and the Center City-situated Stockton Rush Bartol Foundation, she has also brought her talent to her beloved South Philly through Shot Tower; Connie’s Ric Rac, 1132 S. Ninth St.; L’Etage, 624 S. Sixth St.; and Adobe Café, 1919 E. Passyunk Ave., where she hosted February’s second annual Veggie Bowl Comedy Spectacular, and numbers Passyunk Square’s Barrymore Award winner Jen Childs, whom she assisted during last year’s “Women and Comedy: A Night of Storytelling” for 1812 Productions, among her colleagues.
“I love being fortunate to know so many people who are committed to their disciplines,” Rea, who has not completely abandoned her vocal training as evidenced by the popular YouTube video “Marry Me, Miss Mary,” in which as the titular character she wards off the advances of the 5-year-old, Terruso-voiced Stanley, said. “I can’t see growing tired of that.”
When not leaving adults in hysterics, the gregarious individual provides youngsters with an appreciation for musical theater, art and drama tutelage through the Kimmel Center and the Arden. No matter the intent of a given gig or job, Rea aspires for sincerity and sensitivity. For someone who upon her first appearance brought a laugh track because she was unsure how her brand of humor would fare, she has certainly come to stand out as a standup.
“Philadelphia is the best place to produce independent comedy,” she said, “and I’m thrilled to have had so many opportunities to do just that.”
For more information, e-mail info@hillaryrea.com.
Contact Managing Editor Joseph Myers at jmyers@southphillyreview.com or ext. 124.
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