AVAILABLE EXCLUSIVELY AT
RG 520 8TH AVE. 16TH FL.
STARTING SEPTEMBER 1ST.

FOR INFO ABOUT RG ADVERTISING 
HAPPY AUGUST! 
It's been a great summer here at RG. Auditioners auditioning, teachers teaching, rehearsals rehearsing, creators creating. Inspiration around every corner!!!
And we're just 1 month away from opening our Brand-New location. You're gonna love it!
 
Can't wait to see you there!

Relax. Explore. Create.

Graham McCarty - Marketing Manager 
RG EMPLOYEE LANDS A ROLE ON BROADWAY! 
If you're lucky enough to score tickets to Come From Away, you might recognize a familiar face on stage. Up until about a month ago, De'Lon Grant was working at Ripley-Grier's front desk and answering phones in the booking office. Now he's performing 8 shows a week in a sold-out, Tony-winning Broadway Show!
De'Lon's road to Broadway has been long and emotional. He moved to NYC from Deluthe (MN) after graduating from The University of Michigan in 2006, started auditioning and worked for a while doing Regional gigs. Eventually De'Lon found himself in Grad School, studying at Boston Conservatory of Music. After graduating and moving back to NY, he was cast in the National Tour of Jersey Boys (which he did for 3 and a half years). After that, De'Lon needed a break. "I decided to pretty much stop auditioning. The constant pounding away can be so psychologically draining. Broadway was of course still a dream, but seemed pretty unreachable." De'Lon decided to find a part-time job and focus on photography among other things.
"Ripley-Grier seemed open to my creative ideas and I felt like I would be able to infuse my personality, creativity, ideas and passions in to the company," De'Lon said about being hired at RG. "Also, I wanted to stay connected to the Arts. It was a good fit!" Little did he know, this would be the calm before the storm!
His agent got him an audition for Hamilton and De'Lon was called back 7 times. It was at this last call-back that he was introduced to the Casting Director for Come From Away. The next day, his agent called and said that they were interested in having him come in to audition for a replacement in the show. After a slight hesitation, he decided to audition. The day after the audition, his agent called offering him the role.
"It always happens in life. The moment you step away from desperation and become grateful for your current reality, the universe somehow paves the way."
Rehearsals began immediately. "When you're replacing someone, it especially difficult because you have to rehearse by yourself in an empty space with a Dance Captain or a Stage Manager reading the other lines," recalls De'Lon. "It feels weird. As an actor normally you learn the text and the moments, then you add on the music and the choreography, but when you're replacing an actor, it's a little backwards. The rest of the cast has been together for 2 years and I'm the first new person to come in to the show since the beginning. So it's a little nerve wracking!"  
Yeah. No pressure!
On Friday Aug. 4th, after just 3 weeks of rehearsal and 1 run-through with the rest of the cast, De'Lon made his Broadway Debut. "Before the show, I was so nervous. I had to keep trying to calm myself down, telling myself 'It's only a job. It's only a job.' It did feel very special though and I tried to enjoy it. After all, you only make your Broadway Debut once! The coolest thing though, after the final bow and your adrenaline is rushing and it's over and your like "Oh my God, I did it...on Broadway, and I didn't mess anything up. Then the cast gathered around me were congratulating me and I just burst in to tears. Then they all started crying too because they all know what that feels like."
"You know, Broadway felt so un-attainable, especially with as few roles there are for an actor of color. But I'm grateful and thankful. Over the course of a month my life is completely different." Sometimes that's how life works!
Did you audition here at RG and land a role on Broadway? We want to hear about it!
Email your story to [email protected] 
Hi. We are down here in sunny Cape May, New Jersey with the whole family: kids and grandkids. There are 10 of us including Valentina who is visiting from Italy. We have done some great family bonding.  
We're staying in the Marquis de Lafayette hotel which allows pets, so lucky us we were able to bring our puppy Johnny. This is his third time here & he's behaving very well. We've come to Cape May almost every summer for the past 34 summers. This is where Butch and I spent our first summer together. He was the first manager of 410 Bank Street restaurant.  I worked during the week in Manhattan and every weekend  I would take the express bus from New York to Atlantic City and then the local bus all the way down to Cape May. It was about 4 1/2 to 5 hours. Toward the end of the summer I worked as a bus girl on weekends. Many lovely memories with Butch, with Shayne when he was a boy, with Jeannie when she was a little girl and now the whole family. Creating supportive relationships is part of our Feng Shui experience in life. 
We are swimming in the pool and ocean and boogie boarding. Our dog Johnny took his first swim yesterday in the beautiful Cape May Bay. 
While down here, I am working hard on choosing the colors and the decorative touches for our  new studios at 305 W. 38th St.  Official opening is on September 18th. Hope to see you there! 

Better and better, Patricia
 
Patricia Ripley is the Founder and CEO of Ripley-Grier Studios and a certified Feng Shui consultant. 
ONE MORE MONTH OF   
SUMMER FITNESS! 
Keep up or start your fitness routine with my functional fitness classes. 58 minutes of Cardio, stretching, strength and core-work. I work with mature dancers, actors, and fitness minded adults. Intro class is $10.00   For more information, email [email protected]
Hope to hear from you!
         Patricia Ripley, Ripley-Grier Studios
Summer vacation is coming to an end as students are going back to school.  I am starting my first year of college at Hofstra University in September and I'm really excited. Next week I go audition for the Hofstra Pep Band I have to do a saxophone solo.
We are driving back from a nine day vacation in Cape May, New Jersey with the whole family: my brother Shayne and his wife Heather and their four kids: Jackson, Ethan, Brooklyn & Griffin, along with Mom and Pop. Valentina my friend from Italy joined us.  So there were 10 of us.
We went to the Wildwood piers and rode rides, our tradition. We went boogie boarding and took Johnny our dog for his first swim.  We all did some go cart racing in Lewes, Delaware after taking a ferry from Cape May.  We swam in the hotel pool every day.  Cape May has really good restaurants with all kinds of food but especially seafood.  We are driving home right in the middle of the eclipse! This should be cool!
          Speak to you soon,  Jeannie

Jeannie Ripley-Grier is the 17 year old daughter of RG owners Butch Grier & Patricia Ripley .
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR...
TONY, JAZZ AND CYNTHIA.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!