Confessions of a Pregnant Stripper is a one-woman show written and performed by Megan Rippey. It charts, month by month, her body’s transition and from male fantasy to baby-maker, or “Divine Portal” as she puts it.
Her journey through clubs in New Orleans, Portland and Alaska as her baby grows inside her is related with wit and candor.
If you have any preconceptions about strippers, Rippey will destroy them. She has a BA in Women, Gender and Sexuality, an MFA in Acting, and has clocked up seventeen years as a stripper. All of these qualifications are brought to bear in this tight 40 minute show.
We get glimpses of “Reagan”, her club persona as well as thoughtful ruminations on her changing body, and its effect on her customers. Her fears for her imminent child are heartfelt and moving.
The 4pm audience I was part of contained some of Rippey’s colleagues who clearly recognized, and related to, the joys and challenges being described.
Now at eight months, Rippey will not be a pregnant stripper for much longer. I caught her final show in a sold out run. But I hope the success she has had with it makes her want to do more. At the curtain call we made it rain with dollar bills,
The show is cleverly and unobtrusively directed by Valerie Hager.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Written and Performed by Megan Rippey. Directed by Valerie Hager.
About the Project
Confessions of a Pregnant Stripper is a solo performance piece by actor/ performance artist/ stripper Megan “Reagan”. Utilizing her skills as a storyteller, “Reagan” shares her hilarious, provocative, and surprisingly wholesome tale of being a stripper for 17 years, her fertility journey, injecting herself with hormone boosters after a long night at the club, dancing until her fifth month of pregnancy, daring to resist mainstream squeamishness around pregnancy and eroticism, eating and hustling for two, and everything she has learned so far as a soon-to-be divine portal in stilettos. Come for the comedy, stay for the emotional climax.
Bring $1 bills to throw at curtain call if you liked the show!
Learn more about the show HERE.
Reviewed by Guy Picot.