Cowboys & Mermaids & The Deer Woman! 2019-2020
Oops! Time flies! It’s been two years since I last updated, and I have been appropriately busy! :) Let’s have fun and start with what I’m doing now and work backwards…
She Was the Deputy’s Wife
I am back home in Los Angeles after a tumultuous experience working on one of the last film productions in the country as the global covid 19 pandemic slowly shut down all film sets. I was on location in Arizona shooting a Western feature film called She Was The Deputy’s Wife. We were isolated in a very small town, which is what enabled us to keep working. I played the lead role (the Deputy’s wife Mabel), and I feel extraordinarily lucky to have been a part of something this special at a time of such fear and uncertainty . The story is beautiful, the cast and crew are incredible, and my character is very close to my heart. Plus, I got to shoot guns and ride horses!
Working on this film was a gift. I absolutely love being a working actor, and being the lead in a movie was an experience that gave and taught me so much. I cannot wait to get back on set, once the outbreak subsides…
Screen shot from She Was The Deputy’s Wife
Mermaid Down
In October of 2019, after four years of post-production (and patiently waiting), we finally got to celebrate the world premiere of Mermaid Down! This was a huge deal for me. It was my first red carpet premiere and it was held at the Grove in Beverly Hills, followed by an after-party at a mermaid-themed bar downtown. I loved the film and was so proud of the entire hardworking team. I’ll never forget this experience.
If you want to watch Mermaid Down, you can! It is available on Amazon Prime Video among some other platforms like iTunes, GooglePlay and YouTube, and at Walmart stores. I play Reyna, a tempestuous Girl Interrupted-like character with trust issues and an axe to grind.
Mermaid Down
Badland
In June of 2019 I completed principle photography on my first Western feature film! The film is called Badland, and it was my biggest production I’ve done so far, even earning me my coveted SAG eligibility! Many big name actors are in the film (including Bruce Dern, Mira Sorvino, Jeff Fahey and Amanda Wyss), which really enhanced my experience and taught me a lot about acting on set. I play a soiled dove named Nellie Lyle who attempts to seduce the lead character, played by Kevin Makely. This project was truly a game-changer for me, and renewed my love of Westerns. It was on this project that I met the person who would introduce me to the 12 Westerns in 12 Months project, which led me to being cast as Mabel in She Was The Deputy’s Wife. My take-away: Westerns beget Westerns!
Badland premiered in November and enjoyed a limited theatrical run. It is now available on Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, iTunes, Fandango Now, GooglePlay, DirectTV, Comcast, AppleTV and more. It is also in Target, Walmart, Best Buy and Redbox!
As of today, it is also listed as one of the top ten movies on Netflix! Since we are in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic, I guess I’m not the only one who has the Armageddon cowboy blues!
Coincidentally, the lead actor and producer of Badland, Kevin Makely, is from the same small town in New York as my mom. When it was announced that the local movie theatre would host the New York premiere in December, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to see myself on the big screen with my family! So Kevin and I both flew “home” to experience our Western with our loved ones, and it was amazing. We even got a write up in the local newspaper, The Poughkeepsie Journal!
Deer Woman
Still working backwards, in May of 2019 I produced my one-woman show Deer Woman: An Autobiographical Tale of an Exotic Dancer and a Magical Encounter, at the Son of Semele Solo Creation Festival! I am proud to say it was an incredible success — the run was sold out and extended for three extra performances! The director of my show, Valerie Hager, inspired me when I saw her one-woman show Naked in Alaska a few years ago. We kept in touch and I worked up the nerve to ask her to direct and co-develop my solo performance, to which she enthusiastically agreed, which was my dream come true. It was the auspicious beginning of a profoundly deep friendship. Working with her is like having magic pixie-dust sprinkled on your head, and suddenly you’re flying. She helped me transform a scrapbook of diary entries and loose theatrical sketches into a piece of transcendental theatre.
Deer Woman is my story of being an exotic dancer who is looking to reconcile my love of stripping with the primal rage of feeling disempowered by the incremental violations that occur nightly in the club. Based on my real-life events as well as a fantastical vision I had in 2012, the “Deer Woman” is what happens when I allow the rage to rise to the surface.
After the sold-out, extended run at the Solo Creation Festival, Valerie and I went back to work to refine the show and also add approximately 10 minutes of new material. The newest 45 minute version of the show was selected for the 2020 Solofest at the Whitefire Theatre, which was a one-night affair and so much fun! I played to a packed house and I was very proud of my performance. Deer Woman was also selected as one of the Solofest 2020 Best of the Fest!
Next on the docket was due to be the 2020 Hollywood Fringe Festival, but the covid crisis has disrupted this plan. We’ll see how HFF 2020 adapts… for now, there is talk about postponing the festival until the Fall. I’m curious to see what happens. With an open mind, I cherish the extra time to further develop this piece!
Rave reviews from Solofest 2020 at the Whitefire Theatre:
“Megan Rippey is all woman... brilliant, beautiful, powerful, contradictory and brave... so exquisitely good, such an amazing presence, her characters full of life and humor and quirk.”
“...fun and hauntingly honest... ”
“Strange and unusual and totally, fearlessly real.”
“The most impressive dimension of the show is how she boldly challenges us to consider the inner lives of the actual, three-dimensional people who entertain us from the stage, all of whom have their own unique story.”
“as she dances, performing incredibly athletic and frankly gorgeous feats of agility, she beautifully dominates us.”
“Megan Rippey is utterly believable. The dance, the story, the fearless sexuality and the beautiful Deer Woman... I barely breathed the entire show. I found it so inspiring and intriguing and warmly dangerous... I absolutely loved it. The last few minutes are a gift worth waiting for... we meet Deer Woman and she is everything we hoped...”
“...a fascinating story of contrasts... Rippey’s production is captivating, imbued with a wide range of emotions.”
Perfect Arrangement
Oh man, now I’m in ancient history territory… Way back before my solo show came to fruition, I was back in Florida doing a play! Let’s see, that would have been early January through early March of 2019. The play was Perfect Arrangement by Topher Payne, directed by one of my all-time favorite directors Eric Davis (who also directed me in Marie Antoinette in 2017), and I played Norma Baxter. This was such a fun production, with a great group of actors whom became my fast friends.
Based on the true stories of the Lavender Scare in the 1950s, Perfect Arrangement is a dramady that follows two closeted homosexual pairs who are legally married to each other’s spouses, and live next door to each other in a carefully constructed, “perfect arrangement” in order to escape detection from the people they work for in the State Department, whom at that time (in real life) were investigating anyone suspected of being gay and firing them, ruining lives and actually driving many to suicide. In slapstick comedy fashion, the two households are connected by a shared CLOSET, and there are some precious scenes of the couples rushing back and forth through the secret closet in order to keep their secret lives, secret. At the end, though, the cat’s out of the bag, the comedy gets snuffed out and the play ends with tears and stunned silence. Playing Norma was a new challenge for me emotionally, and I learned so much from her. I was so lucky to work with Eric again, and so lucky to have such a great cast.
Plus, I got to be on local Tampa TV again! So much fun getting interviewed on the Morning Blend and Daytime!
Here are some of our rave reviews!
“PERFECT ARRANGEMENT is freeFall Theatre’s Finest Show in Years”
“[Megan Therese Rippey is] lithe and sophisticated as Norma Baxter.”
“...resonates strongly... ”
“Each of the four actors display admirable range in setting both a campy and dramatic tone throughout.”
“It’s an immensely powerful ending to the play, and I doubt I will ever get over it.”
“freeFall Artistic Director Eric Davis once again does a fantastic job of eliciting authentic performances...”
“The acting is uniformly outstanding... Megan Therese Rippey is incredibly layered as Norma Baxter... Her ending scene is a sock in the gut.”
“The play overall is a must-see, and the message is, sadly, one that we still have much to learn from. ”
During the run of the show, I was also profiled by the online publication St. Pete Catalyst! Check on my interview here.
I think that might finally conclude this ridiculously long update! Thanks for hanging in there! Hopefully the next update will be sooner than a year and a half in the future…
Megan