Dude says: What was Mary hiding?

INTRODUCING: THE DUDE NEWS

WILL THE REAL MARY RIPPON PLEASE STAND UP!

You might know of "Mary Rippon" only as the name of the outdoor theater on the CU campus, where the Colorado Shakespeare Festival plays every summer. You might surmise she had something to do with the University - and you would be correct.

Long before women had the right to vote (and by the way, women got that right in Colorado in 1893) Mary Rippon was a pioneer. She was hired in 1878 to teach at the brand-new CU, the first female to teach at a state university anywhere.

She taught languages and mathematics. Rippon was intelligent, incisive, energetic, and loved the arts, taking trips to Europe to see the latest cultural and artistic developments. Professor Rippon taught in Boulder for thirty-one years. She held play readings & gatherings with her students and in the community (thus, the theater named in her her honor.)

When Mary was thirty-seven, she left for a year’s sabbatical in Europe. She took the scandalous nature of her trip to her grave, where her secret stayed hidden for almost one hundred years.

When our production of Dude It's Boulder! opens this November, you too will learn the dark secret of our very own Mary Rippon.

Mary, along with seventy-four other unique Boulder characters, will fill the stage with stories both familiar, and ... well, shocking. Mark your calendars.

Dude, It's Boulder is a BIG show.
We've cast 25 actors, plus we'll have a number of musicians.
We have to move rehearsals out of our usual living rooms, and into places that can accommodate us .

Can you help us with a small donation? This will help us pay for larger rehearsal spaces. Every little bit helps!

D O N A T E