Jennifer Childs to Star in New Solo Comedy SHE GETS AROUND at Plays & Players Theatre

Actor, playwright, comedian, and 1812 Productions' Producing Artistic Director Jennifer Childs will return to the stage with a brand-new solo comedy, She Gets Around, running April 24 through May 17, 2026 as part of The Phoebe & Otto Premiere Series at Plays & Players Theatre.

In She Gets Around, Childs is cleaning out her closet-and every outfit has a story to tell. Through a whirlwind of characters, memories, and comedic riffs, she explores the many versions of "bad girls" and "good girls" she has been-or has tried to be-throughout her life, both onstage and off.

Combining personal narrative with outrageous character comedy, the show introduces a gallery of unforgettable personalities: from a 7-year-old who talks like Elaine Stritch and blames the patriarchy for being put in "time out," to an angry party clown, to a parade of pioneering female comics who helped shape the landscape of comedy. Together, these characters guide Childs as she considers whether, moving forward, she should be more Doris Day...or more Tallulah Bankhead.

Directed by longtime collaborator Harriet Power, the production adds an element of theatrical spontaneity: the audience will determine the order in which the characters appear. Childs will jump from character to character based on audience choices, ensuring that no two performances are exactly the same.

"I feel like right now we're all trying to make sense of a world that is increasingly more confusing," said Childs. "Our story never gets told the way we think it will-and the audience choosing in what order they experience this collection of stories is part of that-but the story gets told nonetheless and in new and surprising ways."

Childs is a Co-Founder of 1812 Productions and has served as the company's sole Artistic Director since 2006. For 1812 she has created over 20 original works of comedic theater including The Carols, To the Moon, It's My Party: The Women and Comedy Project, Cherry Bomb and the annual political humor show, This Is The Week That Is. She created a series of shows that looks at comedy history which enabled her to develop relationships with and perform the work of pioneering comedians such as Phyllis Diller, Tom Lehrer, Sid Caesar, Mort Sahl, Dick Gregory, Bob Elliot, Steve Martin, Bob Newhart and others.

Her solo shows, Why I'm Scared of Dance and I Will Not Go Gently have been performed at City Theatre in Pittsburgh, Act II Playhouse, the Kohler Center for the Performing Arts in Wisconsin, People's Light and Delaware Theatre Company. She is the recipient of three Barrymore Awards (Best Supporting Actress in a Play 1996; F. Otto Haas Award for an Emerging Theatre Artist 1999 and Best Actress in a Musical 2016) and two Independence Foundation Fellowships in the Arts. In 2003 she was the recipient of the Silver Star Outstanding Alumni Award from her Alma Mater, the University of the Arts.