Ripped

by Rachel Bublitz

FULL LENGTH: Lucy goes to college. Lucy brings mace. No need for Lucy to actually use it, right? But something happened that wasn’t supposed to happen. Or did it? Oh well, Lucy must be having that quintessential college experience: drinking, boys, and being completely decimated by the people she trusts.

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Ripped

Recommended by

Cheryl Bear: Ripped by Rachel Bublitz

“

A crucially important story of an all too common occurrence on campuses everywhere. Powerful and well done.

A crucially important story of an all too common occurrence on campuses everywhere. Powerful and well done.

”
Toby Malone: Ripped by Rachel Bublitz

“

A brilliantly structured, nausea-inducing, hugely important piece about campus culture, perception, and sexual assault. Bublitz uses time and space in a masterful fashion, weaving context into a story we have already decided we understand in the first scene, but which is slowly pieced together to create the whole picture. This should be high on the list for potential productions everywhere, particularly on university campuses.

A brilliantly structured, nausea-inducing, hugely important piece about campus culture, perception, and sexual assault. Bublitz uses time and space in a masterful fashion, weaving context into a story we have already decided we understand in the first scene, but which is slowly pieced together to create the whole picture. This should be high on the list for potential productions everywhere, particularly on university campuses.

”
Jennifer Kokai: Ripped by Rachel Bublitz

“

I saw a brilliant production of this at Z Space Theatre in San Francisco. Tightly constructed and brilliantly plotted, it presents a complicated situation with no easy answers and provoked a great deal of conversation in those seated around me.

I saw a brilliant production of this at Z Space Theatre in San Francisco. Tightly constructed and brilliantly plotted, it presents a complicated situation with no easy answers and provoked a great deal of conversation in those seated around me.

”

View all 25 recommendations

Character Information

A note about the characters and race: Race isn’t one of the focuses of this play, but thought should be given so as not to perpetuate the stereotype that Hispanic and Black men/boys are more likely to rape White women/girls. This may be avoided by having Lucy be played by an actor of color.

Lucy

Freshman at UC Berkeley.

Character Age

18

Character Race/Ethnic Identity

Any

Character Gender Identity

Female
Can be played by:
- Actor Age
  
  Teens,
  
  20s
- Actor Gender Identity
  
  Woman
Jared

Sophomore at UC Berkeley.

Character Age

19 or 20

Character Race/Ethnic Identity

Any

Character Gender Identity

Male
Can be played by:
- Actor Age
  
  Teens,
  
  20s
- Actor Gender Identity
  
  Man
Bradley

Lucy’s high school boyfriend.

Character Age

18 or 19

Character Race/Ethnic Identity

Any

Character Gender Identity

Male
Can be played by:
- Actor Age
  
  Teens,
  
  20s
- Actor Gender Identity
  
  Man

Development History

Type Reading, The Theatre Company of University of Detroit Mercy, Year 2024
Type Reading, The Road Theatre Company, Year 2019
Type Reading, Organization Bristol Valley Theater, Year 2018
Type Reading, Organization Outvisible Theatre Company, Year 2018
Type Reading, Organization Nasty Theatre Company, Year 2018
Type Reading, Organization Z Space, Year 2018
Type Reading, Organization Athena Theatre Company, Year 2018
Type Reading, Salt Lake Acting Company, Year 2017
Type Reading, Organization Wyoming Theater Festival, Year 2016
Type Reading, San Francisco Playhouse, Year 2016

Production History

Type Professional, Organization Loud Fridge Theatre Group, Year 2023
Type Professional, Organization Good Company Theatre, Year 2019
Type Professional, Organization Z Space, Year 2019
Type University, Organization Case Western Reserve University, Year 2018

Awards

The Will Glickman Award

Theatre Bay Area

Winner

2020
Outstanding Production of a Play

Theatre Bay Area

Finalist

2019
Outstanding World Premiere Play

Theatre Bay Area

Finalist

2019
In-Progress New Play Reading Series

Unicorn Theatre

Finalist

2018
Detroit New Works Festival

Outvisible Theatre Company

Winner

2018
Award of Excellence in Playwriting

Association for Theatre in Higher Education

Finalist

2017

Genre

drama

Subject Matter Keywords

rape,

date rape,

rape culture

Length

60-90 minutes

Cast Size

Age of Intended Audience

ages 18 and up

Narrative Attributes

Centers Female Characters

Supporting Materials

Published Script

https://www.originalworksonline.com/ripped

Reviews

Broadway World San Diego

“
RIPPED, by Rachel Bublitz was a compelling look at sexual assault, and how that experience is processed by everyone. ... This show made an impression in January of 2023 that was not easily forgotten.
”
San Diego Union-Tribune

“
The messy gray areas of the relationship between these characters unfolds in non-linear fashion and leaves the audience guessing, and sometimes squirming with dread, to the end.
”
On The Craft

“
This is the unexpected impact of Ripped; as the show progresses, somehow what you expect to be a condemnation emerges as an interrogation of your belief system and what you accept as true. It is raw and gripping and devastating in turn.
”
Broadway World

“
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.
”
San Diego Union-Tribune

“
In "Ripped" the audience members are the judges, and they're likely to repeatedly change their minds about who's credible and who's at fault as more scenes from the past unfold. There is no clear villain in this story. Bublitz has created three complex characters who are likable but flawed.
”
Bay Area Plays

“
The brilliance of this production, a crisp 80 minutes with no intermission, is that it takes concepts that we as a society believe to be black and white and loads them with a ton of grey.
”
Utah Theatre Bloggers Association

“
Bublitz’s script was sensitive and thought-provoking. In my day job I work with many people who have dealt with trauma and we speak a lot about trauma-informed care. I would describe Ripped as trauma-informed writing. I appreciated the way that Bublitz deeply looked at all sides.
”
Front Row Reviewers

“
This is a topic that should be and needs to be addressed by everyday people. We can only become better by doing that which makes us uncomfortable.
”
Bay Area Plays

“
The power of the Z Space world premiere production of “Ripped,” written with piercing detail by Rachel Bublitz and directed with razor sharp focus by Lisa Steindler is that the play takes black and white concepts and loads them with nuance.
”
KQED Arts

“
The genius of "Ripped" is that of all the plays I saw this year, this one kept me questioning my own reactions to it, even six months later. This play—which had a notable reading at Z Space’s 2018 inaugural Problematic Play Festival—invited debate with its daring excavation of the "gray..."
”
The Mercury News

“
“Ripped,” Z Space: The sheer rawness of Rachel Bublitz’s world premiere drama made it brutally appropriate to its thorny subject matter of campus sexual assault and the uncomfortable gray areas of consent (also the subject of “Actually” at Aurora), deftly unfolding what happened through a fractured, nonlinear structure.
”