Is there a right way to be a woman? Pomona’s latest production attempts to answer this, diving into the complexities that come with navigating one’s femininity. In “Collective Rage: A Play in 5 Betties,” the titular Betties offer several conflicting narratives of womanhood and queerness.
Premiering on the night of Halloween to Nov. 2, the play had audiences giggling at the aloof personalities of each Betty, while also contemplating the broader stereotypes and ideas about femininity that each character represents. Originally written by American playwright Jen Silverman, the 5C production was held at the large studio of Pomona College’s Seaver Theatre Complex and directed by Dew Tienwadee Tungkaplin PZ ’27.
The performance tells the stories of five different women, all of whom are named “Betty.” Despite sharing the same name, the five main leads represent distinct visions of femininity: one Betty is rich and lonely, another struggles with anger, yet another represses her feelings by doing manual labor. As the playbook describes, these various Betties eventually “collide at the intersection of anger, sex and the “thea-tah.”
Tungkaplin explained that they chose to direct this play because of its particular focus on female rage and the power dynamics of modern femininity.
“I navigate my life with rage,” Tungkaplin said. “In assigned female bodies or those socialized to be women, there’s a lot of tendency to formulate rage with anger and oppression. I think a lot about who holds the power to allow us to have our chosen identity .”
Betty 3, played by Maelie Abt PO ’29, is a spontaneous dreamer who quits her job to direct a play, pulling the other Betties into her vision. Her childhood best friend, Betty 4 — played by Phebe Mason PO ’26 — hides unspoken feelings for Betty 3 and fixates on repairing her truck when those emotions become too heavy. Betty 1, played by Delilah McGrail PO ’29, is a wealthy Upper East Side housewife whose carefully maintained composure begins to crack as she reconnects with anger and desire. Betty 2, played by Caoilainn Christensen PO ’27, also an Upper East Side housewife, confronts the quiet pain of feeling invisible. As the story unfolds, each Betty’s facade slips, revealing the fears and longings they’ve tried to outrun.
Christensen reflected on her character’s evolution and how it resonated with her. She hoped that her performance would allow the audience to appreciate the value of whimsy at any age and realize that there’s no time limit on personal growth.
“I ended up relating a lot more to [Betty 2] than I initially thought I would,” Christiansen said. “She undergoes an internal awakening of discovering confidence, her femininity and sexuality, and self-acceptance that reminds me a lot of my personal growth over the last few years.”
Attendee Peter Zhang PO ’29 explained how this realization about personal growth has pushed him to consider ways that he can apply these lessons to his interactions with others.
“The show itself was very real, and it helped me realize that I should be out of my comfort zone,” Zhang said. “I should learn about how others learn and communicate, and this is a really good way to help one grow and find a lot more about themselves that they didn’t know before.”
In addition to the issue of invisibility, the show illustrates the struggles of being gender nonconforming in a heteronormative world through the character of Betty 5, a boxing coach fresh out of rehab who uses she and they pronouns. Bella Barrera PZ ’28, who played Betty 5, spoke to their character’s attempts to understand their gender identity by embodying predominantly masculine traits.
“She’s gender queer, and that’s a big part of her arc of her just figuring out femininity in itself,” Barrera said. “In the beginning, she’s kind of trying to put on this persona [being] super masculine. And like, ‘I can do this.’ Maybe she acts dumb at times purposefully, but in actuality, it’s much deeper than that, and she’s having trouble with her gender itself and is trying to understand what she’s feeling.”
Throughout the play, the Betties’ individual fears and desires simmer, culminating in a dinner party where it all comes to a head. In one particularly hilarious and touching moment, Betty 2 sings a somewhat nonsensical song about self-discovery, demonstrating the growth of her confidence after meeting the other Betties. The song was met with laughter, nodding and a strong round of applause from the audience.
With each Betty developing in their own ways, the production team hoped that audiences can take a page from them and learn to practice self-love no matter what their insecurities are.
“Just like the Betties might dislike their own characters in the play, sometimes we might not like the parts of ourselves we ‘perform,’ or the descriptions of ourselves from other people’s perspectives … either because this version isn’t genuine to our true self, or on the flip side, because it’s too true for us to admit.” crew member Joyce Chen PO ’28 said.
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