WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES AUGUST 2, 2018 17
BUZZ
Performer's last summer show at R'wood bar
BY RYAN KELLEY
RKELLEY@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
TWITTER @R_KELLEY6
It’s been a little more than a year
since Jennifer Vanilla fi rst moved
her vaudevillian variety show
from the bar area to the more spacious
back room of The Windjammer bar in
Ridgewood, and it may have proved to
be the catalyst to her rising success.
Her shows grew larger in creativity
and audience size, she went on her
fi rst solo tour around the country, she
released her fi rst solo album and even
turned her act into a television show
in Queens. As she approaches her last
performance of the summer on Aug. 7,
Vanilla — the alter-ego of performance
artist Becca Kauff man — told the Ridgewood
Times that her Ridgewood shows
have served as her creative laboratory.
“It’s been really instrumental in
helping me develop my own material,”
Kauff man said. “I would debut new
songs and new work every month so it
was a real push for me, I knew had to
churn out something new.”
Before moving to Ridgewood four
years ago, Kauff man’s most known
venture was being the front woman
for the New York-based band Ava
Luna, which has toured the U.S. and
Europe and released three studio
albums. She always had aspirations of
exploring her solo career, but moving
away from the hustle and bustle of the
city allowed her to take chances in an
environment where the stakes weren’t
as high, Kauff man said.
Today, Kauffman has shortened
the name of her Windjammer show
from “Jennifer Vanilla Live at the
Bar” to “JVL@B,” which doubles as an
acronym and a new defi nition of the
show being an “experiential performance
laboratory,” she said. The show
includes a combination of singing,
dancing and acting from Kauff man as
her character, Jennifer Vanilla, as well
as performances from other artists of
various mediums.
The show has also become more
focused and structured, following
more of a theme and a story line for
each installment. That led to Jennifer
Vanilla hitting the road for a
solo tour, where Kauff man used her
music industry contacts to set up
shows in music venues, coff ee shops,
art galleries and even private homes
around the country. That in turn led
to the release of Kauff man’s fi rst solo
album as Jennifer Vanilla, a record
fi lled with house beats and moody
vocals that describe the character’s
personality.
“The idea was birthed by being
on the dance floor at the club and
transcending time and space,” Kauff -
man said. “I wanted Jennifer to be a sort
sort
of medium for that mental state, to help
guide myself and other people into that
that
place where you forget about yourself.”
The “JVL@B” has also made another
another
lifelong dream possible for Kauff man
as the show was picked up by by Queens
Public Television (QPTV). Now every
show at the Windjammer is fi lmed and
broadcast on on QPTV, and it serves as
as
a way to “immortalize” the one-ofa
kind experiences that Kauff man
man
At the Aug. 7 show, the audience
creates each time, she said.
can expect to see some
some
The
another
incredibly unique acts. The
guest list includes another
alter-ego pop pop star in Shasta
Geaux Pop, post-punk
artist Lambda Celsius, interdisciplinary
artist Sophia
Cleary, comedian
comedian
and illustrator Sarah
Squirm and artist and
costume designer
Ellie MacInnes.
While their styles
can be diffi cult to
explain, Jennifer
Vanilla included,
Kauffman said
the goal of every
show is the
same no matter
who gets on
stage.
“It’s been said to me more than once by
audience members after a show that their
face hurts from smiling so much,” Kauffman
said. “While I don’t mean to cause any
pain, I think that’s a pretty optimal result.”
Kauff man’s desire to be a part of a
community like Ridgewood has also
played a factor in many of her shows.
Most of the props and costumes in
“JVL@B” come from the thrift shop
on the corner of Menahan Street and
Grandview Avenue where Kauff man
has befriended the owner. At the Aug.
7 show there will also be Hungarian
treats made by her friend Tina, who
also frequents the shop.
Aft er the curtain drops, Kauff man
said she will do a small Jennifer Vanilla
tour on the west coast this fall,
but aft er that she plans to put the
character on pause. As the persona
has evolved, Jennifer Vanilla has
become too large of a personality for
Kauff man to control and she needs
to “reel her back in,” Kauff man said.
Her aim now is to use the character to
create more of a group off ering for the
community, she said.
“I’m ready to retreat into my cocoon
and hibernate a little bit and reemerge
in 2019 as a Jennifer 2.0,” Kauff man said.
“I’m more interested in developing her
as a facilitator rather than calling attention
to myself. I’m fi guring out how
to integrate myself, Becca, as an artist,
and Jennifer, this fi ctitious persona, so
it feels more authentic to me.”
matter
‘Legally Blonde’ makes its case
The JC Players will be raising the curtain this weekend on their production of the Broadway musical “Legally
Blonde,” based on the popular 2001 movie, with music and lyrics by Laurence O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin.
Directed by Barbara Auriemma, with music directed by Frank Auriemma and choreography by Christine
Hinz and Jessica Helton, the cast includes (in alphabetical order) Matthew Ahrens, Alicia Brosky, Hannah Brown,
Guy Caraturo, Navin Das, Amy Ellis, Donna Falzon, Anthony Faubion, Joanna Freda, Megan Gonzalez, Thom and
Virginia Harmon, Jessica Helton, Charles and Christine Hinz, Nicole King, Michelle Meditz, Amanda Mikol, Matthew
Mucha, Dennis Popp, Melanie Pozarycki, Ellen Rosenberg, Jennifer Silverman, Sara Svezia and Mark York.
Performances take place this Friday and Saturday night, Aug. 3-4, at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Aug. 5, at 3 p.m. at Glendale/
Maspeth United Methodist Church, 66-14 Central Ave., Glendale; and on Saturday, Aug. 11, at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Aug.
12, at 3 p.m. at Community United Methodist Church, 75-27 Metropolitan Ave., Middle Village.
Visit jcplayers.com or call 917-647-7526 for ticket information.
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