Two Successful Plays Across the Country, Now Back in LA!
I'm back in Los Angeles! Wow, life is crazy. In March I roadtripped across the country with my bunny Otis to Minneapolis, Minnesota, where I performed in Broadway-produced playwright Katori Hall's world premiere of her play, Pussy Valley! My character was Get 'Em Gidget, a fierce but lovable poledancer at a strip club in the dirty Mississippi Delta, and the production took place at Mixed Blood Theatre, one of my new favorite theatres of all time. They are not afraid to produce bold, challenging plays and they have a policy where half of the seats at every performance are FREE on a first come, first served basis! It was an honor to work there, and I loved my wonderful cast and director Nataki Garrett with all my heart. To prepare for the role I trained as a poledancer for six months. Now my whole body has changed, and I have some pretty impressive muscles! And meeting Katori Hall and having the opportunity to bring her character to life was a dream. What an experience!
Rich Ryan Photography
Don Curry Photography
“As Gidget, Megan Rippey creates a vivid portrait of a person with few resources other than a bottomless well of hope and her ability to romanticize her life… she also demonstrates the greatest gift for the art of pole dancing.”
“amazed by the grace, the artistry, and the sheer athleticism”
“the incredible strength, focus and control, the choreographed extensions and dips, are what truly impress”
“apart from delivering amazing theatrical performances, all four women also exhibit some phenomenal skill on the pole.”
“extraordinary performances... Jasmine Hughes, Joetta Wright, Megan Rippey and Tatiana Williams deliver with such strength as they execute a battery of pole tricks that it is easy to forget that these are trained actors.”
“a brave quartet of core performers”
“an absolutely engrossing ride into an alien but familiar world”
“strong company of actors”
“nuanced performances by the main quintet of Pink Pony characters””
“funny, sexy, heart-breaking, and devastating, and yes, features some pretty awesome pole-dancing... An epic story… compelling and engaging and hits you right in the gut.”
Then, the adventures continued! While I was still in Minneapolis I got wind of a play to be produced at a brand new theatre company in Sarasota, Florida, and so I sent in a video audition and I was cast! The theatre company is Urbanite Theatre, and the play was Reborning by Zayd Dohrn (who just so happened to be in the same graduating class from Juilliard as Katori Hall - small world!). The play is about an artist who crafts life-like dolls for a living, sometimes for clients who have lost a child and are seeking a kind of therapy from the doll. The story begins as a quirky sitcom but soon unravels into a chaotic ball of psychodrama. I played the lead, Kelly, and the role stretched me in so many unexpected ways I feel that it is my best dramatic work in a long time. Big thanks to Brendon Fox, the director, for pushing me in new directions.
Cliff Roles Photography
“Megan Rippey, who plays Kelly, hails from Los Angeles. I don’t know what personal connections brought her to Urbanite, but Sarasota theatergoers are lucky to have her. Her performance is nuanced and reveals the many layers of a survivor”
“dynamic and emotionally wide-ranging [performance] by Megan Rippey as Kelly.”
“...intriguingly offbeat.”
”...high-pitched psycho-drama..”
”As Kelly, Megan Rippey is volatile, unpredictable...”
“Megan Rippey gives us an astonishing intensity as Kelly, whose back story and self-awareness of its implications is as honest as it is tragic.”
“The actors embodying Dohrn’s well-drawn characters are at the top of their game. Rippey is improbably vivacious as a character who’s shut down her sexuality, humanity and possibilities for human connection... her character whipsaws between full-on psychodrama and emotional shutdown. The truth lies somewhere between the words she screams and the words she doesn’t say. Rippey makes you believe in her self-imprisoned soul.”
“Rippey’s Kelly [is] wonderfully on-edge...”
”All three actors wonderfully convey their characters realistically despite the potentially gothic situation.”
After the successful run of Reborning, I hit the road back home to LA with my bunny! My boyfriend joined us for the roadtrip and we got engaged in New Orleans, so suffice to say A LOT has happened these past four months!!
I am now working hard with my new manager, Andy Rooney of Midwest Talent, to continue evolving my film career. I missed it I can't wait for what's next! :)