Hidary shares her unique voice
by Jill Cousins, Special to the Heritage
Vanessa Hidary loves her job. As a self-proclaimed “solo performer,” she gets to tour the country reciting poetry and telling stories about her colorful upbringing in the culturally diverse Upper West Side of Manhattan.
Hidary will offer a taste of her one-woman show “Culture Bandit” to Central Florida’s Jewish community when she performs at Choices, the annual fundraiser for the Women’s Division of the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando. Choices 2012 will be held on Jan. 26 at Congregation Ohev Shalom.
“I am a Sephardic Ashkenazi smoothie,” Hidary said. Her mother comes from a family of Sephardic Jews from Syria; her father comes from a family of Ashkenazi Jews from Russia.
Throughout her life, Hidary has heard the comments, “You don’t look Jewish; you don’t act Jewish.” She grew up in a neighborhood that included blacks, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans and Jews. She loved hip-hop music, and her friends came in all colors. She never thought it was a big deal, until she went to graduate school in Providence, Rhode Island.
“I had never met a WASP before,” Hidary said. “One of the first shows I wrote was about meeting my first WASP in New England.”
While Hidary worked on a Master’s degree in acting at Trinity Repertory Company, she discovered that she had a unique way of writing and expressing herself. Hidary, who originally hoped to become an actress, fell in love with the concept of the one-woman show and began writing her own.
“I thought everyone had this culturally-diverse life,” Hidary said. “Once I left New York, I realized it was a unique experience. I found that people were fascinated by my life and related to my identity struggles.
“When I started writing, I felt like I was on to something. It’s a great way to express a unique voice, which I think I have. I was able to talk about all the issues that I feel strongly about.”
In 2002, Hidary wrote “Culture Bandit,” and it became her first nationally toured solo show. She has also performed on HBO’s Def Poetry Jam and was part of the rotating cast in the “Nice Jewish Girls Gone Bad” variety show. Her first book, “The Last Kaiser Roll in the Bodega” was released last June.
In one of her colorful monologues, Hidary proclaims that she “eats matzo in Harlem” and was thrown out of Hebrew School because she spent Rosh Hashanah at the Puerto Rican Day parade. She may be white on the outside, but she calls herself “a festive fruit platter” on the inside.
Hidary will be sharing the stage at Choices 2012 with TV star Mayim Bialik. The two met at last year’s TribeFest in Las Vegas, where they were both guest speakers at the annual celebration for Jewish young adults.
“I’m really excited about coming to Orlando,” Hidary said. “I love doing Federations, and I love speaking to a different (age) range of people. And it’s really special to do an all-woman crowd.”
For more information about Choices, call the Jewish Federation at 407-654-5933 or go to www.jfgo.org to register for this fantastic women’s event.
Read this entire story in the print edition of the Heritage; call 407-834-8787 for more information.