Every day is opening night.

MCC THEATER EXTENDS “COLLECTIVE RAGE: A PLAY IN 5 BETTIES”– -PRODUCTION PHOTOS NOW AVAILABLE

Press Contact:
Rick Miramontez / Michael Jorgensen / Pete Sanders
rick@omdkc.com / michael@omdkc.com / pete@omdkc.com
212-695-7400

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, PLEASE

MCC THEATER
EXTENDS
NEW YORK PREMIERE OF
“COLLECTIVE RAGE: A PLAY IN 5 BETTIES”
BY POPULAR DEMAND 

BY JEN SILVERMAN
DIRECTED BY MIKE DONAHUE 

NOW PLAYING THROUGH OCTOBER 7
PRODUCTION PHOTOS NOW AVAILABLE HERE

New York, NY (August 28, 2018) – MCC THEATER (Robert LuPone, Bernard Telsey, William Cantler, Artistic Directors; Blake West, Executive Director) is pleased to announce the extension by popular demand of the New York Premiere production of Collective Rage: A Play in 5 Betties, written by Jen Silverman, and directed by MCC alum Mike Donahue (The Legend of Georgia McBride at MCC Theater). Previously scheduled for a limited run through September 23, Collective Rage: A Play in 5 Betties will now play through Sunday, October 7 at the Lucille Lortel Theatre (121 Christopher Street). For tickets and more info, visit www.MCCTheater.org

The cast features two-time Emmy® Award-winning actress Dana Delany (“Desperate Housewives,” “China Beach”), Obie and three-time Screen Actors Guild® Award-winning actress Lea DeLaria (“Orange is the New Black,” Cars 3), Adina Verson (Indecent, The Lucky Ones), Ana Villafañe (On Your Feet!), and Chaunté Wayans (Fifty Shades of Black, “Laugh Factory”).

Meet five different women named Betty: one rich, one lonely, one charismatic, one lovelorn, and one who keeps working on her truck. Oh, and one has decided to stage a production of that play-within-a-play by… that old English guy, what’s his name? Ah, forget it. In Jen Silverman’s unpredictable comedy Collective Rage: A Play in 5 Betties, five women collide at the intersection of rage, love, and the “thea-tah,” provoking each other to take a look in the mirror and face the person they didn’t know they could be. Directed by Mike Donahue (MCC Theater’s The Legend of Georgia McBride), this New York premiere invites us all to be a little braver, live a little louder, laugh a little harder, and unleash our inner Betty.

The full title of the play is Collective Rage: A Play In 5 Betties; In Essence, A Queer And Occasionally Hazardous Exploration; Do You Remember When You Were In Middle School And You Read About Shackleton And How He Explored The Antarctic? Imagine The Antarctic As A Pussy And It’s Sort Of Like That.

Collective Rage: A Play in 5 Betties originally premiered at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in Washington, DC in September 2016 under the direction of Mike Donahue which Broadway World called “ a perfect balance between the really absurd and the absurdly real,” and DC Metro Theater Arts said was, “Told with a singular, wholly original voice that evokes Albee, Suzan Lori-Parks, and even the poetic lyricism of Ntozake Shange. And it is very, very funny.”

The creative team for Collective Rage: A Play in 5 Betties includes scenic design by Dane Laffrey, costume design by Dede Ayite, lighting design by Jen Schriever, sound design and original compositions  by Palmer Hefferan, projection design by Caite Hevner, and casting by Telsey + Company/Adam Caldwell, CSA, William Cantler, CSA, Karyn Casl, CSA. Production Stage Manager Lori Ann Zepp and Stage Manager Veronica Lee.

MCC Theater broke ground on its first permanent home, a two-theater complex on West 52nd Street and 10th Avenue, on March 22, 2016. Set to open in November of 2018, the space will unite MCC’s diverse roster of programs under one roof for the first time in the company’s three-decade history. The new facility will be named The Robert W. Wilson MCC Theater Space in honor of the noted philanthropist following a multimillion dollar gift from The Robert W. Wilson Charitable Trust. The space will also allow MCC to expand its programming and establish it as a cultural anchor within the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood. The project is funded by a public-private partnership between the Theater and the City of New York.

About MCC Theater

MCC is one of New York’s leading nonprofit Off-Broadway companies, driven by a mission to provoke conversations that have never happened and otherwise never would. Founded in 1986 as a collective of artists leading peer-based classes to support their own development as actors, writers and directors, the tenets of collaboration, education, and community are at the core of MCC Theater’s programming. One of the only theaters in the country led continuously by its founders, Artistic Directors Robert LuPone, Bernard Telsey, and William Cantler, MCC fulfills its mission through the production of world, American, and New York premiere plays and musicals that challenge artists and audiences to confront contemporary personal and social issues, and robust playwright development and education initiatives that foster the next generation of theater artists and students.

MCC Theater’s celebrated productions include Jocelyn Bioh’s School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play; Penelope Skinner’s The Village Bike; Robert Askins’ Hand to God (Broadway transfer; five 2015 Tony Award® nominations including Best Play); John Pollono’s Small Engine Repair; Paul Downs Colaizzo’s Really Really; Sharr White’s The Other Place (Broadway transfer); Jeff Talbott’s The Submission (Laurents/Hatcher Award); Neil LaBute’s Reasons to Be Happy, reasons to be pretty (Broadway transfer, three 2009 Tony Award® nominations, including Best Play), Some Girl(s)Fat Pig, The Mercy Seat, and All The Ways To Say I Love You; Michael Weller’s Fifty Words; Alexi Kaye Campbell’s The Pride; Bryony Lavery’s Frozen (Broadway transfer; four 2004 Tony Award® nominations including Best Play, Tony Award® for Best Featured Actor); Tim Blake Nelson’s The Grey Zone; Rebecca Gilman’s The Glory of Living (2002 Pulitzer Prize finalist); Margaret Edson’s Wit (1999 Pulitzer Prize); and the musicals Coraline, Carrie, and Ride the Cyclone.  Many plays developed and produced by MCC have gone on to productions throughout the country and around the world.

Blake West joined the company in 2006 as Executive Director. MCC will open its first permanent home in 2018 in Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood, unifying the company’s activities under one roof for the first time and expanding its producing, artist development, and education programming.

 

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