“Ripcord,” August 2 through 11

Friday, August 2, through Sunday, August 11

Spotlight Theatre, 1800 Seventh Avenue, Moline IL

With the Hollywood Reporter raving that "there’s no shortage of funny lines and inspired moments of physical comedy," Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winner David Lindsay-Abaire's winning frenemy comedy Ripcord enjoys its area debut at Moline's Spotlight Theatre from August 2 through 11, the play hailed by Time Out New York as "great fun," "genuinely moving," and "a compelling look at the pleasure of a challenge and the challenge of finding pleasure."

For four years, Ripcord's irritable and sarcastic Abby Binder has kept a room to herself at the Bristol Place Senior Living Facility, mainly through sheer force of her rude personality. Nursing disappointment at the direction her life has taken, she has no room for distraction. When bubbly, bright, and unbearably cheerful Marilyn Dunne is placed in her room, Abby tries her usual tricks, but fails to scare her annoying new roommate away. She gets no sympathy from Scotty, the resident aide, who refuses to use any clout he may or may not have with management to remove Marilyn. And Marilyn, for her part, loves the challenge of Abby’s bad attitude, and refuses to budge. Exercising her taste for competition and her love of pranks, Marilyn makes a bet: if Abby can break her endless patience and make her angry, she will move out. But if she can successfully frighten Abby, who claims never to get scared, she will get the bed by the window.

In her favor, Abby has her wide mean streak, which gives her no qualms about filling in Marilyn’s Sudoku, tearing up her grandson’s pictures, or digging up police reports about her violent ex-husband. But Marilyn has a devoted family – with a skydiving business – on her side, as well as a the most dangerous thing of all: a genuine wish to see Abby happy. As this odd couple embarks upon increasingly emotionally and physically dangerous tricks in order to break each other, secrets are revealed, lives are jeopardized, and peach cobbler is enjoyed, with Ripcord itself emerging as a frequently hilarious, always surprising comedy by a master playwright.

Making her directorial debut with Ripcord is Jessica Taylor, a co-star in last summer's Spotlight comedy Puffs whose additional area credits include leading roles in the QC Theatre Workshop's productions of Dead Man's Cell Phone and Venus in Fur,. Thomas Alan Taylor, Jessica's husband and director of last year's St. Ambrose University musical [title of show], serves as assistant director, with additional members of the creative team including lighting, set, and sound designer Brent Tubbs, who also produces alongside his wife Sara Tubbs; stage manager Zele Rodocker; assistant stage manager Dorothy Turner; costume, hair, and makeup designer Heather Blair; and properties princess Sarah Green.

Longtime area favorites Susan Perrin-Sallak and Patti Flaherty, who have worked together many times in plays ranging from the Black Box Theatre's The Man with Bogart's Face to the Playcrafters Barn Theatre's Steel Magnolias, portray the warring Abby and Marilyn in the Spotlight's latest. Ripcord's cast is completed, meanwhile, by a quartet of additional area talents: Will Crouch (Playcrafters' Barefoot in the Park), Emmalee Hilburn (the Richmond Hill Barn Theatre's Here Lies Jeremy Troy), Jeremy Mahr (the Spotlight's The Complete Works of William Shakespeare abridged/revised), and Emma Regnier (the Prenzie Players' The Comedy of Errors).

Ripcord will be staged in Moline from August 2 through 11, with performances Fridays and Saturdays at 7 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. Admission is $22-27, and more information and tickets are available by calling (309)912-7647 and visiting TheSpotlightTheatreQC.com.