Meet the Riley!
Ripley spoke with Riley
Silverman and she’s a Jedi.
If you haven’t met this amazing DM, improviser, and writer... just keep reading! If you know her, you’ll be captivated by everything she says like we are. Thanks for answering these questions, Riley, and don’t miss her this Friday on SLAY!
Illustration above by Rachael Stott!!
Tell us about your Slay character? How are they like or not like you?
It was really important to me with Slay to try to keep as much of the character creation as possible within improv. With Heartbeats, because I was coming in so late and with a character that had a personal connection to Jessica's, I overwrote, I had way too much prepped for the character and most of it melted away within the first rehearsal and into the first episode I did. So for Slay I did the opposite approach, I came in with Barcus with just the most minuscule nugget of an idea: She's working for DORM slightly against her will, that she's in custody for something and she's cut a deal with them to work off her sentence, sort of Mod Squad or Suicide Squad style. What has grown out of improv during the development and rehearsal process was that she was a member of a teenage monster hunting squad in school, that something went horribly wrong and everyone in the group aside from Jen is either dead or missing, and she's been on the run ever since and carries a lot of survivor's guilt. I don't actually know what the crime she committed is that has her in DORM custody currently, I'm hoping we'll find that in improv. But I think the guilt she feels is not for that, but for what happened to everyone else. Which I also don't know and am letting improv tell me.
I feel like, like a lot of us, I've done a lot of work over the years to be a better person, or try to be. I was pretty angry when I was younger and that didn't always manifest in treating people the kindest I could. With Jen Barcus, I sort of try to imagine a version of myself that didn't go on that same journey. She's been lost for a long time, and she didn't have the people around her and the experiences that taught her the importance of empathy and such. So, she's angry, and keeps everyone at a distance. So when I perform as her a lot of what I'm doing is removing the choices I'd personally make based on my own toolkit.
Out of all the projects you’ve worked on, and roles you’ve gotten to play, what is your favorite one?
I'm on a Doctor Who RPG podcast called The Game of Rassilon where I play the Doctor and it's just a dream come true. The TV show has meant so much to me personally and has had such a connection for me to my own "Regeneration" (aka transition) that there's something immensely special about getting to wear that coat for a bit.
What is your favorite part of working on SLAY?
It's a genre that I'm really partial to, given how influential certain shows and movies were for me as a nerdy kid in the late 90s, but I also just think Aliza's concept for the show is so brilliant. It utilizes our Twitch show format in an extremely clever way and also it challenges us to think outside the box in how we present information during the show, which I'm super, super into. Also, it's my first regular cast role as a Ripley member, after a few guest spots prior and two guest appearances on Heartbeats after I joined. So it's the first Ripley show I feel part of that collective ownership over.
What about Ripley excites you?
So I first became acquainted with Ripley when I was on the Rat Queens TTRPG show with some of the group's founding members (Aliza Pearl, Laurie Jones, and Jessica Lynn Verdi) and it was one of the most fulfilling collaborative experiences I've ever been a part of as far as casts go, and then it was like "Wait there's a whole GROUP of badass ladies that are ALSO this amazing to work with?" SIGN ME UP.
And they did!
Just a regular day working for a monster hunting agency.
What’s a perfect Saturday for you?
Well, I'd never say no to Disneyland if it were offered, but on a more typical Saturday I'd love to sit somewhere kind of chill and enjoy a well brewed coffee, have a kick-ass breakfast burrito, maybe go for a walk or bike ride, see a movie in a theater, I don't get to cook out much in LA but would love to do that, or have some hot chicken perhaps for dinner. And of course a long D&D game to close the night out.
Catch Riley this Friday at 6pm PT on twitch.tv/ripleyimprov!
Image by Rachael Stott