The new comedy by David Lindsay-Abaire comes to The Fountain Hills Theater.
A sunny room on an upper floor is prime real estate in the Bristol Place Senior Living Facility. But when the cantankerous Abby is forced to share her quarters with new-arrival Marilyn, she has no choice but to get rid of the infuriatingly chipper woman by any means necessary. A seemingly harmless bet between the old women quickly escalates into a dangerous game of one-upmanship that reveals not just the tenacity of these worthy opponents, but also deeper truths that each would rather remain hidden.
Playwright David Lindsay-Abaire began the play as a challenge to himself. Audiences know him best for his Southie-set comic drama Good People and his Pulitzer Prize-winning Rabbit Hole. Before his foray into more serious plays, Lindsay-Abaire was known for writing absurdist comedies. His landmark 1999 hit Fuddy Meers takes the audience on a wild ride through one day in the life of an amnesiac abducted by a mysterious stranger. Lindsay-Abaire wrote a string of hits, including Wonder of the World and Kimberly Akimbo.
“I started to wonder if I can combine that spirit of those old comedic plays with, hopefully, the craft that I’ve garnered over the years,” Lindsay-Abaire says. “Once the play started to take shape, I realized that I was also writing something that was harkening back to some of the first plays that I had seen and loved as a kid: I’m Not Rappaport, Lettice, and Lovage, or The Gin Game, comedies about two characters of a certain age really going at it with each other. Those plays are really funny, but what I loved about them was that they were incredibly human. They had big throbbing hearts in the middle of them.”
Ripcord stars the Grande Dames of Valley Theater, Noel Irick and Barbara McBain, and features Bill Bennett, Deborah Ostreicher, Benjermin Tietz, and Richard Wells.
Patty Torrilhon produces and Wanda McHatton directs this uproarious comedy. The Fountain Hills Theater presents this production through Special Arrangement with Dramatists Play Service.
Ripcord will play Mar. 18 – April 3, 2022. Performances are Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 7:30 PM and Sundays at 2 PM. Individual tickets are $35.00 for Adults and $18.00 for Youth 17 and under. Seniors receive a $5.00 discount on all Thursday performances. Group rate discounts are available. Veteran and Active Duty discounts. All performances are at Fountain Hills Theater on its Mainstage at 11445 N. Saguaro Blvd. (The Corner of Saguaro and Rand). Tickets are available through the Theater Box Office at (480) 837-9661 x3 or by visiting fhtaz.org. Box Office Hours are 10:00 AM-5:00 PM, Tuesday through Saturday. For additional information not contained in this press release, please call Fountain Hills Theater Artistic Director Peter J. Hill at (480) 837-9661 EXT. 7. *Please check our current Covid guidelines before purchasing tickets.
