Last night Salt Lake Acting Company hosted an in-house reading of RIPPED. It was part of their Starving Students program, which by the way, if you're a student in the area you should be 100% taking advantage of this program; it includes discount tickets to show (super discounted), as well as master classes throughout the semester. Last night was one of those master classes, the students all got the script ahead of time and showed up ready to read. We drew names out of a hat to get our actors and dove right in.
For a cold read of not the easiest script, in regards to content as well as how much the main character talks, they nailed it. I was so impressed! Something that I'd not thought of before was how much having age appropriate actors in the roles would affect the script. I've always used mid-twenty to thirty-ish aged actors who looked younger, and never thought twice about it. But seeing people barely out of their teens, people who are still forming into adults, bump into one another through the the story was heartbreaking and made the point of the play hit much harder. Following the reading we had a discussion and they impressed me all over again with their questions ranging from specifics about the play to process and craft. It was helpful to hear how close this play hit to home with them. Basically I'm saying it was a fantastic night and if this is how Salt Lake Company rolls, I can't wait for another chance to work with them.
I'm not sure what's next for RIPPED, for now I'll keep sending it out like a crazy woman because I believe it's a play people need to see. And don't worry, as soon as it's something that you can see, I'll be sure to let you know all about it.