Ripley-Grier Newsletter May 2014

Happy impending summer! First off, we want to send out our congratulations to this year's Tony nominees, especially all the great shows we've seen come through our doors in the past 12 months me and boys

. One of the great joys of our business is seeing these tremendous works brought to life in our studios, from staged readings and workshops to Broadway debuts. We like to think of ourselves as a greenhouse for art to develop through its early, delicate phases into something for the history books.

Birthday blessings to Logan, Rosie, and Graham! If you've ever been on a booking call or at the desk when someone here gets "birthdayed", you know we take these things seriously here. Sometimes its nice for the world to stop for a minute, just for you.

As always this time of year, we pause for a moment to recognize the sacrifices made by generations of Americans in uniform. Have a lovely Memorial Day, everybody. Tell your kids what it's all about, and maybe one day all our soldiers can come home, and their passing can come from age and a life well lived, rather than the tragedy of conflict.

-John Norman
Director of Operations
Ripley-Grier Studios

Spotlight: Chris Dilley

As a vocal coach myself, it's a joy to sit down with a professional with whom I agree so wholeheartedly. So much more pleasant than the usual fisticuffs that ensue when disagreements are arise...

Chris Dilley came to RG many years ago as a performer (he still keeps up a very impressive schedule on stage) and started bringing his students here shortly thereafter. "I think it's so important that they work here. The sense of being surrounded by the creative community is something you just can't get locked up in my apartment. It lifts my students up, and gets me out of my bubble." Chris's primary focus is on breathing technique, which he has built a class around called "Power Breathing for Singers", taking small groups of performers through a breathing workout designed to enhance - and protect - the instrument. "I noticed when I was doing 8-show weeks that my voice would get fatigued, which is dangerous." Chris's method aims to give you the tools to prevent that, so you can give the same strong performance, night after night. With a career as substantial and wide ranging as Chis's, not to mention his exuberance and charm, we are inclined to trust him on this score.

CHRIS DILLEY has over 20 years experience teaching acting and voice, and founded the Chris Dilley Vocal Studio in 2008. He teaches both private voice, and a group vocal class called "Power Breathing For Singers". Chris has traveled the world performing with a cappella theater sensations Voca People and The Kinsey Sicks. He is an active member of Broadway Inspirational Voices, with whom he performed at Carnegie Hall last month. He has shared stages with such artists as Jennifer Lopez, India.Arie, Lara Fabian, Ledisi, Carol Channing, and Tyne Daly. Chris will perform a solo concert (called - what else? - "Chris Dilley in Concert!") on June 17 at the Metropolitan Room. For more info on Chris' classes and performances, check out www.chrisdilley.com.

Patricia Ripley

Feng Shui and Chinese Astrology for Creative People

Greetings everyone!

We are back from our vacation and will not be flying any where else for many months as we have adopted a puppy and he will have to travel with us until he is at least 6 months old. We got him when he was 2 months old so his astrological sign is the horse, his name is Johnny and he is a Beagle.

As we were speaking previously we are in the The Year of the Wood Horse. Advice for the 5th of May until the 6th of June is: "Be mindful and persistent, and the rewards will exceed your expectations. Stress at work witll affect your health"

For the dates May 19th through May 31st, in general, suitable activities will be: Weddings, Grand Openings, Moving, Traveling, Filing Law Suits, Seeking Doctors advice, House Cleaning, Contracting, Blessings and Offerings.

On the 1st of May, I taught my Feng Shui Introductory class for the Long Beach Adult Continuing Education Program and had a fun and inspiring class. Many folks from my town desire to get their lives moving forward after Sandy and many have newly renovated or newly built houses. There were questions concerning what the storm affected the town and what we need to do to protect our beaches and most importantly how do we, as individuals, deal with the trauma of such a dramatic, violent event. Looking forward to continuing to work with the town and it's people to help them recover.

Next month I will discuss the Five Factors that influence our lives, their meanings and how we can use them to understand our life paths.

Do a good deed every day. ~ Patricia

Our new cozy studio!

Answering your requests for affordable space for warm-ups and monologue work, we are happy introduce 17P! Fifty square feet of calm, for only $8 an hour!

Jeannie's Spot

Been away, now back

I will be going to many theatrical and musical events in the next month including: Digifest, on June 7th; R5, on June 10th; Fall Out Boy and Paramore, on June 21st; and OneRepublic and The Script, on June 29th.

Digifest is a festival held every year for famous YouTubers. They all come together to meet their fans. My favorite is a guy named Josh, and his channel on YouTube is thecomputernerd01. You should ckeck him out, he's really funny!

R5 is my favorite band, and I've been a fan of them since 2011. I got to meet them three times and almost four! They're not that popular right now, but they are getting even more popular. They had the chance to perform at Wango Tango in LA and open up for some of my favorite bands like Maroon 5 and OneRepublic! You might be able to recognize the lead singer, Ross Lynch from his role on Disney Channel's Austin & Ally, as Austin Moon, and Disney Channel's original movie, Teen Beach Movie, as Brady!

I've been a fan of Fall Out Boy since 2010 and Paramore since 2009. I'm very excited to see them in concert for the first time! I had seen Fall Out Boy perform live on America's Got Talent in September last year, and I can't wait to see them again.

I've been a fan of OneRepublic and The Script since 2008. I finally found some tickets to see The Script, because they're always sold out, and they just happened to be on tour with OneRepublic, so I get to see two of them, at the same time! I was super excited to know that I get to see them, since every time I try to get tickets, they're sold out.

I will be writing about my experiences in either the June, or July newsletter, so stay tuned!

Jeanne-Michelle Ripley-Grier is the daughter of RG founders Butch Grier and Patricia Ripley.