Frances Rippy

Frances Rippy is a dynamic theatre director and arts administrator based out of Brooklyn, NY. Below is a selection of their directing work, for more details about any of the projects or to inquire about their performance and design history, contact us here!

2024, by william o'neal ii

$$$ Pig

$$$ Pig was presented as part of the 2024 24 Hour Plays: Nationals at Classic Stage Company in New York City. Rippy and playwright william o'neal ii had a total of 24 hours to write and then rehearse the 15 minute play for their Off-Broadway debuts. The play is a tender love story set at the end of the world. David (Cyrus Carrillo), his sister Sarah Grace (Leanne Rooney), and their friend June (Miranda Hall Jiménez) are planning to sacrifice a pig that looks suspiciously human. When the pig changes into David's late lover Ezekiel (Samuel Pignalosa), everyone has one last chance to tell the truth. The play asks us to dig deep about the sacrifices we make for people we love.

2024, by Joel Castello

Rotting

Rotting was presented as part of the 2024 Short Play Festival produced by the 938collective and shown at Dixon Place in New York City. Rippy both directed Rotting and served as a collaborating producer with the collective. It was Castello's NYC premiere and the world premiere of this piece. It explores themes of guilt, abandonment, supernatural forces, and gender relations.

2023, devised by the ensemble

Purgatorio

Purgatorio was the frenzied, pulsing brain-child of director Frances Rippy developed during their post-graduate study in Arezzo, IT. Inspired by Dante's epic poem of the same name and set in a techno club afterlife, this adaptation asks piercing questions about punishment, the trans second puberty, and religious essentialism. Purgatorio had a workshop preview at Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, MA before having it's world premiere at Edinburgh Fringe 2023 to critical acclaim.

2023, devised by the ensemble

HappyLove/SadLove

HappyLove/SadLove was a site-specific love letter to the Villa Godiola in Arezzo, IT. It explored the connections of love, memory, and place through physical theatre. Rippy was a member of the company of 5 devisers-performers who created, directed, and performed this impressionistic odyssey .