God Save the Queen! (& Best Featured Actress Nom, & Wedding, & Mermaid Down Trailer!)
A lot has happened since my last update! Most notably, I was cast in one of my dream roles (also my first ever title role!): Marie Antoinette in the play Marie Antoinette by David Adjmi! It was the experience of a lifetime to work with director Eric Davis at freeFall Theatre in St. Petersburg, Florida, bringing this buoyant and colorful character to life. I will remember this production for the rest of my life. What pure fun! (And the reviews were fantastic - read them below!)
Photo by Steven Le
Photo by Steven Le
“The acting is the strongest element in this production, with Megan Therese Rippey a standout as our heroine.”
“Compelling Megan Therese Rippey goes all out to make Marie real... an anti-heroine playing at being a queen and even herself.”
“Megan Therese Rippey is well cast as Marie, who lands a supple depiction of an alert but uneducated woman whose true nobility shines once she is stripped of her crown.”
““The acting is top-notch... Rippey is particularly good... This is a daringly unsympathetic performance, and it works well.”
“[Playwright David Adjmi’s] take on Marie seems to be a girl interrupted, effectively brought to life by star Megan Therese Rippey.”
“Amazing performances... as fun as an out of control carousel, with moments that left the audience breathless... Megan Therese Rippey succeeds beautifully as the titular Queen of France and Navarre. We see growth in her, from impudent wife of Louis XVI who cannot get pregnant, to a celebrity clouded in tons of eye-popping gossip, and ultimately to her latter days—as a prisoner who knows the end is near.”
I was also on the TV show Morning Blend again! Click here to watch my interview!
And I was on a radio show! Click here to listen! The talking starts at 10:50, and you can also skip ahead to hear us do the radio play version of a scene Marie Antoinette at 30:25. Maybe one of my smartest sounding answers begins with a question at 33:30. ;) This was so fun, thank you WMNF 88.5 Art In Your Ear!
Being Marie brought me so much joy and taught me so much about who I am as an actor. I found a renewed sense of confidence in myself and in my work that was really able to shine, and I was given the opportunity work with an incredible creative team that brought the world of Adjmi's play to life.
I also have some news about the previous production I did at freeFall Theatre, Red Velvet. If you look back at my previous blog post you can see me recount how I agonized over feelings of inadequacy and the "actor's imposter syndrome" as I struggled to learn three new dialects and two scenes in a foreign language. Today I would like to announce that I was nominated for Best Featured Actress in a Play for the characters I played in Red Velvet, courtesy of Theatre Tampa Bay. This was my first nomination - ever - and I am thunderstruck with humble gratitude. To have been so riddled with anxiety about this work and then to receive such high praise for what I accomplished is a blessing and truly a surprise. This was a lesson for me to believe in myself, and I am taking it to heart. Thank you, Theatre Tampa Bay!
Oh yeah, and in September I got married! It was a mystical mashup of enchanting Scottish-Irish folklore in the redwoods meets Cowboy-Unicorn Railroad pageantry and I loved every second of it!
Photo by Heather Armstrong
Photo by Heather Armstrong
Photo by Heather Armstrong
Photo by Heather Armstrong
Another piece of news is that after three years of being very, very patient, the trailer for one of my FAVORITE projects was just released! Behold the trailer for the feature film Mermaid Down!!
The final piece of news is that I signed with new Management! I am now managed by Dora Whitaker of Whitaker Entertainment and I am very excited about what 2018 holds... bring it on!
Thanks for reading! Make sure to follow my Instagram and my Facebook page if you aren't already! And just for fun, here is a super short video I directed of myself doing a classic burlesque striptease! I love playing what I am... :) Cinematography by Karim Meg. Bye! xoxo