Skip to main content Skip to footer site map
Review: RIPPED at Loud Fridge Theatre Group Is an Excellent and Nuanced Look at Sexual Consent

Review: RIPPED at Loud Fridge Theatre Group Is an Excellent and Nuanced Look at Sexual Consent

Playing through February 5TH

Loud Fridge Theatre Group started off its 2023 theatrical year with an excellent and thoughtfully nuanced look at a sexual assault on a college campus. When Lucy wakes up one morning she is confronted with a puzzle of not remembering the events of the night before, and unsure who she can trust, including her own memory, as she tries to piece everything together. RIPPED from Loud Fridge Theatre Group is playing through February 5th at OnStage Playhouse.

Written by Rachel Bublitz, RIPPED opens with Lucy (Amira Temple) asleep in a bed, and you can see her discomfort and confusion as she starts to wake up. Her confusion only grows as she battles an epic hangover, and finds a piece of her favorite dress on one side of the bed, and an empty bottle of alcohol on the other. Her chance for orientation is soon interrupted when a very happy and energetic Jared (Marcel Ferrin) has brought coffee and pastries back to the room.

Told in a non-linear way with time jumps back and forth, the audience sees the events and the people that led up to that night in pieces, bringing both clarity and more complicated contexts.

Lucy is a college freshman having left behind her friends, family, and high school boyfriend Bradley (Devin Wade) in San Diego for Berkley. When she gets lost on campus she runs into Jared who is more interested in getting back to his house than meeting and helping the confused freshman. Soon though she has won him over to give her a safety escort back to her side of campus. Slowly they become friends, bonding over having left their hometowns for school, and Jared showing her around school and San Francisco.

Review: RIPPED at Loud Fridge Theatre Group Is an Excellent and Nuanced Look at Sexual Consent
Marcel Ferrin and Amira Temple. Photo credit: Brittany Carrillo.

Her ex-boyfriend Bradley stayed in San Diego to attend community college, and before Lucy left she gives him the "it's best if we break up now" speech, which he doesn't agree with but reluctantly concedes. When she returns over a holiday break, Bradley is much more surly and insecure about her new college friendships, but he was her high school sweetheart and best friend so she can trust him to understand and have her best interests at heart, right?

Review: RIPPED at Loud Fridge Theatre Group Is an Excellent and Nuanced Look at Sexual Consent
Amira Temple and Devin Wade. Photo credit: Brittany Carrillo.

The performances and the chemistry between all three of these performers are excellent, they're natural and they each make their characters incredibly likable. Temple especially has to navigate serious emotional shifts between scenes as well as be believably inebriated within arms reach of the audience and does so skillfully. Merrin and Wade portray very different people, but both also bring similar depth and facets to their characters. They are each differently charming and warm and you can see why Lucy likes them both, but they also have moments where they angrily dismiss Lucy's experiences with them while also justifying what occurred.

That you can empathize with all of them, even as they make choices that will have lasting consequences is a testament not only to the performers but to the direction from Kate Rose Reynolds and John Wells III.

Reynolds and Wells make sure that the play never feels melodramatic, and that everything is grounded in reality. There are many funny and charming parts to the show and the characters which makes their decisions and consequences of them that much more difficult. There is no hero versus villain, instead, this story highlights the complexity of these types of situations; there are always multiple sides and nothing is a cut and dry one would wish.

Part of why the cast has excellent chemistry is that they trust each other in portraying these emotionally fraught situations and that is thanks to the work of Intimacy Director Kandace Crystal. It is reassuring as an audience member to know that this was created in a safe environment for everyone involved.

In college, I was a resident advisor, and also part of the sexual assault response team when one was reported in the dorms. I worked with people through many of these reports and I was struck by how true to life and those experiences this production felt to me.

Along with the performances and direction, this production is enhanced by the lighting from Kevin "Blax" Burroughs that plays with light and darkness to obscure and reveal to move the story forward. Projections by Estefania Ricalde help establish the dates and times as the timeline moves around. The set by Alyssa Kane (built by Anthony Garcia) and the props by William BJ Robinson effectively set the scene and leave some breadcrumbs for the plot to follow. It also uses space so that it is both intimate and the character's reactions are impossible to miss. The sound design by Brianna Wing is detailed and polished, and the costumes by Emily Carter feel true to the characters and time.

RIPPED is a play that not only has strong performances but also will inspire many conversations about consent, responsibility, and trauma. If this is how Loud Fridge Theatre Group starts their 2023 theatrical I am excited to see what else the year holds for them.

How To Get Tickets

RIPPED from Loud Fridge Theatre Group is playing Jan. 21 through Feb. 5 at OnStage Playhouse, 291 Third Ave., Chula Vista. For ticket and showtimes information go to loudfridge.com/shows.



Photo Credit: Loud Fridge Theatre Group and Brittany Carrillo



The Old Globe Announces Cohort For The 2023 Classical Directing Fellowship Photo
The Old Globe has announced the four-member cohort for the 2023 Classical Directing Fellowship, a program of the Karen and Stuart Tanz Fellowships at The Old Globe, led by the Globe's Erna Finci Viterbi Artistic Director Barry Edelstein, a leading Shakespearean teacher, author, podcast host, and director.

Review: GUNTOPIA at The Roustabouts Theatre Co Photo
It took 3 years and one pandemic, but Will Cooper’s world premiere satire gUnTOPIA has finally opened to audiences at The Roustabouts Theatre Co. The show is a dark comedy pondering what life and society could look like if gun ownership was universal, and not carrying a weapon was against the law.   gUnTOPIA is playing through April 2nd.

Review: GOD OF CARNAGE at Backyard Renaissance Photo
Backyard Renaissance pulls no punches with their current production of GOD OF CARNAGE- where two couples have come together to resolve a fight between their children, but it quickly devolves from polite pretense to a delightfully chaotic and comedic confrontation as the gloves start to come off.  GOD OF CARNAGE from Backyard Renaissance is playing at 10th Avenue Arts Center through March 25th.

Review: THE CHERRY ORCHARD at North Coast Repertory Theatre Photo
THE CHERRY ORCHARD at North Coast Repertory Theatre brings a contemporary contemplation to a classic play with strong performances and a lovely set.  THE CHERRY ORCHARD is playing through April 2nd at North Coast Repertory Theatre.


From This Author - E.H. Reiter


Review: GUNTOPIA at The Roustabouts Theatre CoReview: GUNTOPIA at The Roustabouts Theatre Co
March 20, 2023

It took 3 years and one pandemic, but Will Cooper’s world premiere satire gUnTOPIA has finally opened to audiences at The Roustabouts Theatre Co. The show is a dark comedy pondering what life and society could look like if gun ownership was universal, and not carrying a weapon was against the law.   gUnTOPIA is playing through April 2nd.

Review: GOD OF CARNAGE at Backyard RenaissanceReview: GOD OF CARNAGE at Backyard Renaissance
March 18, 2023

Backyard Renaissance pulls no punches with their current production of GOD OF CARNAGE- where two couples have come together to resolve a fight between their children, but it quickly devolves from polite pretense to a delightfully chaotic and comedic confrontation as the gloves start to come off.  GOD OF CARNAGE from Backyard Renaissance is playing at 10th Avenue Arts Center through March 25th.

Review: THE CHERRY ORCHARD at North Coast Repertory TheatreReview: THE CHERRY ORCHARD at North Coast Repertory Theatre
March 18, 2023

THE CHERRY ORCHARD at North Coast Repertory Theatre brings a contemporary contemplation to a classic play with strong performances and a lovely set.  THE CHERRY ORCHARD is playing through April 2nd at North Coast Repertory Theatre.

Review: UNDER A BASEBALL SKY at The Old GlobeReview: UNDER A BASEBALL SKY at The Old Globe
February 23, 2023

 San Diego has deep ties to baseball well before the Padres arrived on the scene. The Old Globe’s new play UNDER A BASEBALL SKY, set in Logan Hieghts shows how baseball can become an important thread in the tapestry of individuals and their communities. This 90-minute play has mystery, family, magical realism, and a lot of heart and is playing through March 12th at The Old Globe.

Review: SUNDAY IN THE PARK WTH GEORGE at CCAE Theatricals is not to be missedReview: SUNDAY IN THE PARK WTH GEORGE at CCAE Theatricals is not to be missed
February 22, 2023

SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE may be a beloved musical,  but it isn’t staged that often- it requires an excellent cast to perform a show based on a classic painting by George Seurat, with the complicated but gorgeous Sondheim music to perform in order to make it great.  Luckily, this show by CCAE Thearicals is stunningly good, from vocals to musicians, and scenery it is a show you do not want to miss.   SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE is playing through March 5th.