Ripcord generates laughter, thought

A bet is a bet. . . Abby Binder (Anne Faith Butler), left, and roommate Marilyn Dunne (Christy Brandt) seal the deal with a handshake after their secret bet. The two longtime CRT celebrities star in Ripcord, playing now at The Ruth in Creede.

CREEDE– With a combined 60-plus years of experience on the Creede Repertory stages, there was no better choice than to have Christy Brandt and Annie Butler appear in the starring roles of this year’s production of “Ripcord.”

Three weeks into its nine-week run, “Ripcord”, directed by Billie McBride, who performed in the same play in 2016, and writer David Lindsay-Abaire, would be pleased with the early attendance and the performance of the CRT duo and their supporting cast.

Billed “Butler vs. Brandt”, the play features the well-known CRT duo as residents of a senior living facility and thanks to Abby Binder (Anne Faith Butler) there are many confrontations between she and roommate Marilyn Dunne (Christy Brandt).

With the help of attendant Scotty (Brade Bradshaw), and cameos by the pairs’ family members, the two seem to survive without killing one another in spite of a “secret bet.”

Late stand-in Graham Ward, himself an eight-year veteran of CRT, brilliantly plays the role of four characters; including Marilyn’s son-in-law Derek, the Zombie Butler in the haunted house scene, the masked man in the park, and Abby’s long-lost son Ben.

CRT newcomer Jenna Neilsen, a professor of theatre at nearby Adams State University, plays Colleen, Marilyn’s daughter, and together with husband Ben add to the antics of the “residents” bet including a surprise tandem parachute dive by a slightly drugged Abby and other “tricks” we won’t share and spoil the show for you. Marilyn’s family developed a skydiving company many years before, hence the play’s title, “Ripcord.”

Neilsen also plays the woman in white in the haunted house scene. And let’s not forget Hagan Oliveras as the “blood-thirsty” clown.

As director McBride puts it in the CRT 2019 program, “We have always felt that when seniors move to assisted living facilities that they have reached the end of their lives.

Ripcord does take place in an assisted living facility, but these two women are far from joy. One is alone and the other surrounded by family. Each has a secret.”

She goes on to say that “it’s a very funny play laced with sadness, fear and a bit of tragedy.”

This two-time viewer says there is much more humor and some predicted sadness, with an ending that may leave you crying, surprised, and then laughing with tears of joy.

Lindsay-Abaire, a Pulitzer Prize winning playwright, screenwriter, lyricist and librettist, said “There was always this sort of interconnectedness between humor and tragedy because that’s just what life was. If I’m going to write a comedy, it shouldn’t be a surprise that, underneath it, there’s pain and hurt and desperate need.”

The roughly 90-minute play features a 15-minute intermission at the Ruth Humphreys Brown black-box theatre (The Ruth), with a PG rating for some language. It plays through Aug. 8 with both matinees and evening performances.

For ticket information go to, www.creederep.org, or call 719-658-2540.


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