
R.B. Ripley
rbripley@fellswoop.net
bio
A playwright and screenwriter, R.B. Ripley is a two-time Nicholls
Fellowship
quarter-finalist, a Chesterfield Writer's Program
semi-finalist; He is a 2003 recipient of the Family Friendly
Programming Forum Award and a 2004 recipient of the Alfred and
Trafford Klots Artist Residency in
Rochefort-en-Terre, France. His plays have been seen in the
U.S. and in Germany. He holds an MFA in Dramatic Writing from
the Carnegie Mellon School of Drama and a BFA in Music from
the Moore's School of Music at the
University of Houston. He blogs at www.rippedblog.blogspot.com
work
Hollow
Full-length play
Drama
2W/3M
In the mountains of rural, central Pennsylvania, a brother
and sister struggle with a terrible secret, an impoverished
town eagerly awaits the arrival of fortune and the apocalypse
is about to begin.
The Game
Full length play
Drama
1W/3M
Mickey is a failed comic and Dean is a high-profile major league
baseball player. When an aspiring young singer crosses their
path, all three are forced to make decisions that will change
not only their own lives, but America as well. The Game follows
one couple’s struggle to overcome infidelity against the
backdrop of today’s media, the mythology of America’s
pastime and what we as a culture choose to pass along to the
next generation.
Among Cannibals
Full length play
Comedy
2W/3M
Tim has a small memory problem. In fact, he can’t seem
to remember much of anything because he suffers from the memory
disorder Korsakoff’s Syndrome that is rooted in a severe
B12 deficiency. Fortunately, his mother Katherine has made it
her life’s work to help him remember through telling him
stories about his own life. The only problem is that she also
suffers from the disease. Using strong theatricality, sharp
dialogue and generous doubling, Among Cannibals is the story
of one man’s quest to regain his memory that leads him
on an absurd romp through his family’s history as he deciphers
what is real, what is family mythology and what it is he truly
needs.
Reveries, Passion
Full length play
Drama
2M/3W
Symphonie Fantastique is considered to be composer Hector Berlioz’
crowning artistic achievement. It was also his most dangerous,
sending him into the depths of madness over a beautiful young
actress named Harriet Smithson. Set against the backdrop of
the French revolution, Reveries, Passion recounts the tale of
madness and obsession surrounding composer Hector Berlioz’
tumultuous writing of Symphonie Fantastique
Atonement
Ten-minute play
1W/1M; minimal set
Drama
On Christmas Eve, two personal histories collide when one woman
finally tracks down the man who took something very important
from their boss years ago.
Reciprocity
Ten-minute play
Comedy
One couple. One long engagement. One request. Bill and Sarah
are in their mid-30’s. They’re both successful professionals.
Sarah’s clock is ticking so loud her “skin has begun
to vibrate.” Questioning Bill’s true feelings, Sarah
surprises him with the demand that they invite a young man into
their bed for a threesome “to fulfill her lifelong fantasy.”
The results investigate manipulation and disconnect in contemporary
relationships.
Simulcast
Ten-minute play
Drama
It’s the year 2029 in St. Louis, the capital of Free America.
An accused eighteen year-old presents trial lawyer Melanie Stevens
the most difficult case of her life. This short play investigates
serious questions about the rapidly blurring line between media
and the judicial system in the U.S. and provides a frightening
possibility as to where it may be headed.
Surviving the Fittest
One-act play
Drama
2W/2M
In the distant future, a woman discovers the last three inhabitants
of an underground civilization previously believed to have been
eradicated in the nuclear holocaust. Ultimately, she must choose
to return to her world leaving the three survivors and an entire
culture to certain extinction or stay and continue the species.
This short play’s intention is to be told primarily through
movement and mask work.
Screenplays [back to Plays]
Royally Mistaken
Feature film screenplay
Romantic Comedy/Fairy Tale
Magic flowers, evil villains, great acts of heroism, plastic
surgery, private jets, postmodern feminism and even a Welsh
sea monster named Darnall tell this hilarious modern fairy tale
set in contemporary times. The story uses a variation on the
classically entertaining ‘switched identities’ premise
while investigating an assortment of truths, particularly those
regarding the mercurial relationship between the sexes. Satirical,
whimsical, and full of heart, this contemporary twist on the
fairy tale mingles The Princess Bride with Big Fish by way of
When Harry Met Sally.
The Consequence of Truth
Feature film screenplay
Drama
Ten years ago, a massive biological terrorist attack on the
U.S. fresh water supply left the nation and world in stunned
turmoil. Now in the year 2017, the federally-run water industry
is about to deregulate . A middle management employee at a major
water supply company that company executives have created a
quiet and complex alignment with the Federal Water Agency and
that leaders of both are poised to reap massive profits from
the upcoming deregulation. As he follows the trail, implicating
more and higher global leaders, he discovers a highly sophisticated
ploy for profit and that those responsible will stop of at nothing
to keep the truth hidden. Paralleling both the recent U.S. energy
scandal and the 1929 stock market crash, this drama plays out
on a global scale, exploring a harrowing possibility for the
next cycle of corporate greed.
Flow
Feature film screenplay
Drama
One man returns to his small hometown when his mother commits
suicide in a peculiar manner revealing a dark secret that threatens
to destroy his family. In the spirit of The Good Girl, or The
Royal Tenenbaums, Flow presents a refreshingly funny and poignant
tale in which truthful, complex and offbeat characters struggle
with lost dreams, rediscovering love and learning to accept
the beauty of human imperfection.
Change Up
Feeature film screenplay
Romantic Comedy
What happens when major league baseball’s most successful
pitcher loses his fastball? In this funny and fresh romantic
comedy adapted from the novel by Steve Kluger, an aging ballplayer
must finally learns the real meaning of teamwork and helps his
hapless club rise from the depths of despair to win the hearts
of America.
Returning, Texas
Feature film screenplay
Drama
Tom Keller seems to have everything – a beautiful young
wife, a historic baseball career with the Red Sox that has him
headed for the Hall of Fame and now he’s making a seamless
transition from professional athlete to local politician. When
he discovers that his campaign is being funded by dirty money
and a heart attack threatens his life, Tom realizes that the
only path to the future runs through his small, Texas hometown
and the past he’s avoided for nearly twenty years.
An ensemble cast of memorable characters struggles against the
decline of American small town culture as a family is given
one last chance to overcome its past while an ‘American
hero’ struggles to go on.