Ripcord is a sharp, heartwarming comedy that follows two very different women who become unlikely roommates in a senior living facility. Fiercely independent and sharp-witted, Abby wants nothing more than her privacy, while the chipper Marilyn is determined to bring a little sunshine into their shared space. Ripcord is a delightful, touching story about resilience, friendship, and the unexpected people who help us find joy.

“A show to treasure. David Lindsay-Abaire’s ripping Ripcord is a deeply satisfying and vastly entertaining story of two elderly women thrown together by a comic cosmic force possessed of a wicked sense of humor…With Lindsay-Abaire—a shape-shifting writer of always humanist works—nothing ever happens merely for its own sake. There are deeper issues lurking below the comedic surface. . .that gradually build from belly laughs to something more emotionally nutritious.” —Deadline

“David Lindsay-Abaire’s tastily sweet-and-sour Ripcord is great fun!. . .Solidly crafted, the play is larded with moments of surprise, both wacky and more substantial. When the play gets serious, it’s genuinely moving. Beyond the high jinks, Ripcord offers a compelling look at the pleasure of a challenge and the challenge of finding pleasure.” —Time Out New York

All 1 pm performances are indoors at Grizzly Peak Winery. Wednesdays—Sundays, July 16—August 3. $40. ($45 at the door.)

July 16 Preview: Discount tickets. $30

July 17 Opening: Show followed by wine or sparkling water and a talkback with the director and actors. Benefit for Planned Parenthood SW Oregon. $50 ($55 at the door.)

Ticket benefits and discounts: Wine Wednesdays (July 23 and 30), Talkbacks Thursdays (July 17, 24, and 31) , Friend Fridays (July 18 and 25, August 1). Click here for more info.

Tickets are non-refundable and non-transferable to a different play. You may switch the date to another Ripcord performance or donate your tickets back to the theater. We don’t charge for exchanges, but please consider making a $5 donation in the basket at the winery. Exchanges are not permitted within 24 hours prior to your show.

Need access seating? Arrive at the winery by 12:10 and let the reception staff know when you check in. Note that the first row may be reserved as a donor benefit. Large print programs are available at each performance upon request. Grizzly Peak Winery is a mobility accessible venue.

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ripcord

Meet the Artists

Eileen DeSandre (Abby)

Eileen was last seen at RTC as Bella in Fragments. She began acting (and played her first 'mother role') at age 18, which was a very long time ago. She is a lifetime company member of OSF (17 seasons). Favorite roles there include Bessie Berger (Awake and Sing!); Holofernes (Love's Labours Lost); Francis Flute (Midsummer Night's Dream); Maddalena Guarnieri (The Magic Fire), also produced at the Kennedy Center; Monica Reed (Present Laughter); Juliana Tesman (Hedda Gabler); Sasha Smirnoff (Room Service), Nurse Preen (The Man Who Came To Dinner); The Maid (Blood Wedding), and Mme. Pernelle (Tartuffe). Roles she has loved performing at other theatres: Mrs Fisher (The Show-Off), Fulton Opera House, Lancaster PA; The Nurse (Romeo and Juliet), Riverside Theatre, NYC; Miss Helen (The Road To Mecca), Profile Theatre, Portland (Drammy Award for Best Actress in a Lead Role). Eileen has also performed as Dr. Ruth in two productions of the one-woman show Becoming Dr. Ruth -- at Virginia Rep, Richmond VA , and Orlando Shakes, Orlando FL. Eileen is enormously happy to be performing again with Rogue Theater Company, and is in love with Ripcord!

Stephen Michael Spencer (Scotty)

Broadway: Clyde’s (u/s performed.) Off-Broadway: Music City, The Assassination of Julius Caesar (Bedlam), Julius Caesar (TFANA), Medea:Reversed (RedBull). Regional: Four Seasons with Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Hudson Valley Shakespeare, McCarter Theatre, The A.R.T., Arena Stage, The Rep. at St. Louis, Great Lakes Theatre, Idaho Shakespeare, Cleveland Play House, Triad Stage, Ensemble Theatre Co, Chautauqua Theatre Co. International: The Heart of Robin Hood with Mirvish Productions in Canada. TV/ Film: “FBI: Most Wanted” (CBS), This Wild Abyss. Education: BFA UNC-Greensboro, MFA Case Western Reserve/Cleveland Play House. Stream “stephenspencer” original music on all platforms. @stephenmspencer www.stephenmichaelspencer.com

Barret O’Brien (Benjamin/Lewis/Clown)

Barret is an actor committed to creating work that is gentle on Earth's natural resources.  He's appeared in over eighty plays and films from off-Broadway to tiny, poetic theatres in Europe you've never heard of but would most definitely dig.  Recent projects include Above the Trees (Joma Films), The Long Long Night (Duplass Brothers Films), Hamlet (ANPF), Scapino (Camelot Theater), and The Lemurian Candidate (Crossing Bridges Films). Education: Yale School of Drama

Jamie Ann Romero (Colleen/Woman in White)

Broadway: The Cottage; Broadway First National Tour: The Play That Goes Wrong;  Off Broadway: Hold On To Me Darling (Lucille Lortel); N/A (Mitzi E. Newhouse);  Dracula  (Classic Stage Company);  Mary Page Marlowe  (Second Stage Theater);  Select Regional: Shakespeare in Love, The River Bride, The Merry Wives of Windsor (Oregon Shakespeare Festival); Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike  (Paper Mill Playhouse);  The Winter’s Tale  (Hartford Stage);  A Midsummer Night's Dream  (The Old Globe); World Premiere of  The Legend of Georgia McBride  (Denver Center Theatre  Company); International:  Noises Off  (Maxim Gorky Theatre of Vladivostok, Russia.)  Television: "The Punisher", "New Amsterdam", "House of Cards".  Film:  Viper Club, Sunday 1287.  

Mark Bedard (Derek/Zombie Butler/Masked Man)

OFF-BROADWAY: Promenade (City Center); Julius Caesar (TFANA); Pride & Prejudice (Primary Stages); Midsummer Night’s Dream (Pearl Theater); Fashions for Men (Mint Theater). OSF: (9 seasons) It’s Christmas, Carol!; The Cocoanuts; Wrinkle in Time; Animal Crackers; Medea/Macbeth/Cinderella; Love’s Labor’s Lost; Henry IV 2; Willful; She Loves Me; Merchant of Venice; Servant of Two Masters; Paradise Lost; Much Ado About Nothing; Comedy of Errors; Midsummer Night’s Dream; View from the Bridge; Taming of the Shrew; On the Razzle. REGIONAL: Bust (Goodman & Alliance); Into the Woods, Midsummer Night’s Dream (Idaho Shakes); Christmas Carol (Goodman); Little Shop of Horrors (Idaho & Tahoe Shakes); Richard III, All’s Well That Ends Well (Chicago Shakes); Taming of the Shrew, Richard II, General from America, As You Like It, Measure for Measure, Winter’s Tale (Hudson Valley Shakes); The Cocoanuts (Guthrie); Roe (Arena Stage, Berkeley Rep); Funny Thing…Forum (Geva Theatre); Cymbeline (Shakespeare Theatre Company); Mother Courage, Love’s Labour’s Lost (Shakespeare & Company); Boeing Boeing (Seattle Repertory); Waiting for Godot (Marin Theatre). TV/FILM: Gilded Age; Evil; Madam Secretary; The Good Fight; Instinct; The Knick. markbedard.com

Nancy Carlin (Marilyn)

Nancy is happy to return to Ashland after a mere 38 years, since her time at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. She has performed and directed extensively in regional theaters, including the American Conservatory Theater, California Shakespeare Theater, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Aurora Theatre Company, The Jewel, Center Rep, B Street, Shotgun Players, and Shakespeare Santa Cruz. Favorite recent roles include Ouiser in Steel Magnolias (TheatreWorks) and Ma in Torch Song (Marin Theater). A former company member of A.C.T. and associate artist with Cal Shakes, Carlin is a theater arts lecturer with UC Berkeley and SJSU. She holds a BA in comparative literature from Brown University and an MFA in acting from A.C.T. Ms. Carlin is a member of AEA, SAG-AFTRA, and SDC. Nancy co-authored the musical Max Understood, co-produced the film Haiku Tunnel, and can be seen in Eleanor Coppola’s film, Love Is Love Is Lovewww.nancycarlin.com

Henry Woronicz (Director)

Henry joins RTC again after directing the 2024 staged reading of August: Osage County. He is a nationally recognized actor, director, producer, and teacher.  He was the Artistic Director of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival from 1991-1995.  His directing credits at OSF include Hamlet, The Rehearsal, Pravda, The Glass Menagerie, Cymbeline, All’s Well That Ends Well, La Bete, Other People’s Money, The Second Man, Henry IV, Part II, Romeo and Juliet, Master Harold…and the Boys, and Sea Marks.  He has also directed at the Utah, Alabama, Illinois, and Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festivals, the Boston Shakespeare Company, the Seattle Shakespeare Company, the Meadow Brook Theatre, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Hong Kong Repertory Theatre, and the Delaware Theatre Company. Henry’s Broadway acting credits include Trebonious in Julius Caesar at the Belasco Theatre, with Denzel Washington.  Among his many regional acting credits include the title roles in Macbeth, Richard III, Hamlet, Henry VIII, Cyrano de Bergerac, and Peer Gynt, as well as Mark Rothko in Red, The Poet in An Iliad, the Duke in Measure for Measure, Leontes in The Winter’s Tale, Antony in Antony and Cleopatra, Falstaff in Henry IV, Part I, Prospero in The Tempest, Torvald in A Doll’s House, Part 2, and Malvolio in Twelfth Night. Henry has performed at the La Jolla Playhouse, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, American Players Theatre, Indiana Repertory Theatre, New Jersey Shakespeare Festival, The Shakespeare Theatre, Center Stage,  the American Repertory Theatre, Syracuse Stage, Actor’s Theatre of Louisville, and the American Conservatory Theatre, among others. He has been a guest star on numerous television series, including, Law and Order, Law and Order: SVU, Ally McBeal, Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: TNG, Third Rock from the Sun, Frasier, Cheers, with recurring roles on Seinfeld and Moesha, and was a featured actor in the films, Living Out Loud, Primary Colors, The Good Catholic, Ms. White Light, Looking for Lola, and Little Pieces. In 2008-2009, he has also served in a consulting capacity as Executive Producer of the Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival. From 2009-2012 Henry was on the faculty of Illinois State University as an associate professor in the School of Theatre, heading the MFA acting program, and from 2014-2017 he was a visiting professor in the Department of Theatre and Drama and Contemporary Dance at Indiana University.  

David Lindsay-Abaire (Playwright)

David Lindsay-Abaire is a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, screenwriter, lyricist, and librettist. His most recent play Good People premiered on Broadway, and was awarded the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play, The Horton Foote Prize, The Edgerton Foundation New American Play Award, and two Tony nominations. TCG named Mr. Lindsay-Abaire as the most produced playwright in America for the 2012-2013 season, and Good People as the most produced play. His previous play, Rabbit Hole, received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, five Tony nominations, and the Spirit of America Award. He also wrote the book and lyrics for Shrek the Musical, which was nominated for eight Tonys, four Oliviers, a Grammy, and earned Mr. Lindsay-Abaire the Ed Kleban Award as America's most promising musical theatre lyricist. Mr. Lindsay-Abaire's other plays include Fuddy Meers, Kimberly Akimbo, Wonder of the World, and A Devil Inside, among others. In addition to his work in theatre, Mr. Lindsay-Abaire's screen credits include his film adaptation of Rabbit Hole (starring Nicole Kidman -- Oscar Nomination), Dreamworks' Rise of the Guardians, and MGM's upcoming Poltergeist reboot, among others.

SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR SEASON SPONSORS

Carol Fellows and Tim Bewley, Carolyn Mandell, George Paige, Donna Ritchie, Stan Schiffman, and Dick and Elaine Sweet

OUR SHOW SPONSORS

Barbara and Bill Tricarico