Though potentially challenging, ‘Collective Rage’ has wide appeal

Lansing Community College’s debut production of the season, “Collective Rage: A Play in Five Betties,” is not for everyone, but it is about everyone. Everyone, that is, who has ever had big dreams, been betrayed, been in love or learned to love themselves.

To enjoy these very human experiences, though, some will need to sit through dialogue and scenes that might push them past their comfort zones. To begin with, the titular five Betties are played by actors of mixed genders, including women, men and male-presenting, female-identifying people. If audiences can get past gender norms and pronouns and simply accept the characters as people, they will enjoy the universal truths revealed by the Betties.

As the title suggests, all of the Betties have some underlying rage that might be channeled into more productive outcomes. The play begins with WASP housewife Betty 1 (Liv Challa) delivering a rat-a-tat summary of the bad news of the day, a fixation she uses to avoid recognizing her failing marriage.

Betty 2 (Betz Lund) is friendless and feels invisible. Betty 3 (Vahlarée Aidan Kakela) hates her menial day job at Sephora. Betty 4 (Joshua Thompson-Linton) eschews complication and seeks a simple, quiet life and love. Betty 5 (Samuel Barrix) has replaced substance abuse with impersonal hookups.

A second caveat to enjoying the show is that female genitalia is discussed frequently and bluntly. The word “pussy” can be crass, but it can also be empowering. For instance, at a dinner party, Betty 3 uses it to encourage Betty 2 to embrace her sexuality.

After attending a play, Betty 3 decides that she is destined for more than retail drudgery and attempts to write, direct and star in her own theatrical production. She enlists the other Betties, and chaos, hilarity and theatrical inside jokes ensue. Along the way, we learn that Betty 4 has carried a torch for Betty 3 since childhood, a flame that may be extinguished by Betty 3’s growing ego.

Meanwhile, Betty 1 hires Betty 5 as her personal trainer, deciding to convert her angst and rage into physical empowerment. As she achieves independence from her rich husband, she and Betty 5 grow closer and experience childlike joy through exploring their gender freedom.

As Betty 3’s theatrical production progresses, the Betties face their fears, their impediments and their connections to each other and themselves. Betty 2 becomes the central figure for personal growth throughout the play, and Lund is perfect in the role. Her performance is raw in its honesty and vulnerability. Particularly heartbreaking are the scenes where Betty 2 interacts with her only friend, a sock puppet that gives her some shockingly bad advice. As Betty 2 takes control of her life, Lund takes control of the stage in the final, surreal dinner party that includes a beautiful, empowering coda.

“Collective Rage” is chock full of adult themes, adult language and challenging ideas, but it is exactly the kind of story we need right now. As Depeche Mode said, “people are people,” and the five Betties are just people trying to figure out life like the rest of us.