by  June August

It was opening night at Desert Ensemble Theatre Company’s Collective Rage: A Play in 5 Betties, and those five Betties were ready for it. Nothing pleases me more than a play written by a woman—Jen Silverman—that gives voice to women who have long needed to be heard. Whether it’s expressing rage or frustration, confusion or sexual obsession, search for friendship or love, we need to be heard and to hear our own voices.

Kudos to director Kudra Wagner for guiding the fine performances of her cast so that we could see five distinct individuals, especially when they all have the same name.  Five “Betties” neutralizes a common name into a symbol for womanhood.  Distinguishing the characters only by number is a clever device.  It worked.  All five actors nailed it.

The comedy opens with several Betties holding hand mirrors, examining their pussies.  Eww. That word - “pussy.”  Eve Ensler trumpeted her wake-up call to women by titling her play Vagina Monologues. Very racy.  When I first saw the Ensler play off-Broadway in the late 90s and again at the Coronet in Los Angeles in the early 2000s, a handful of men and women sneaked out of the theater at intermission with their hair on fire.  Who mentioned a vagina in public? And “pussy”?  Back then, “pussy” was considered a raunchy slang used primarily by men. For a while, the term stirred quite a controversy:  Should feminists even use it?

Yet here we are—twenty years later—and “pussy” is hot.  “Pussy” is in vogue.  In fact, it’s the au courant term symbolizing women’s empowerment.  So by opening Collective Rage in that way, Jen Silverman telegraphs “no holds barred.”  Except there were a few holds missing for me.  I’m impatient to see more well-written theater pieces about women who are striving for more than discovering their sexuality and wanting to get laid.

Time to name names.  Tammy Taylor was a feisty Betty 1, but her husband Richard wasn’t interested in sparring with her.  So why did she hang around?  He was rich.  Angela Landis, Betty 2, might someday have a second career as a comic ventriloquist.  Starved for friendship, Betty 2 resorts to having conversations with her left hand, which could have had other uses too. Shelby Victoria embodies Betty 3, who has the unquenchable desire to be noticed.  Well, you’d be hard-pressed to take your eyes off her.  Although this isn’t a musical, Shelby also gives us a hint of her incredible singing range.  I’m interested in seeing whatever is next for her.

I had the pleasure of working with Katrina Dixon and seeing her work in several Coachella Valley productions.  As Betty 4, Katrina once again demonstrates her amazing acting range.   Ashton Loyo’s Betty 5 touched my heart.  Her character reminded me of a young woman I used to know.  I wanted to learn more about Betty 5, but I missed some of her backstory because I couldn’t hear her from Row J during the intimate conversation with Betty 1.  Speak up, Ashton. You’ve got what it takes.

The set was appropriately minimalist.  Large black cubes against a black background worked perfectly.  There was nothing to distract from the acting. The creative idea of using projections to introduce the scenes was sometimes lost when the angle of the drop and the lighting made the words fuzzy.  I know that Nick Wass is a wunderkind at tech, so I expect he’ll clean that up.

Coda:  In view of the subject matter, I wondered why there seemed to be more men in the audience than women.  And I heard those men laughing—so loudly that I couldn’t tell whether the women were laughing.  This play deserves a larger audience, so I hope more women will postpone their dinner parties and come out to see it.

 Photo Credit: NATHAN COX

Collective Rage: A Play in 5 Betties will run on Sunday, November 12, 2023, at 2 p.m., and next weekend, on Friday, November 17th, at 7:30pm; Saturday, November 18th, at 2:00pm and 7:30pm; and Sunday, November 19th, at 2:00pm. Performances take place at the Palm Springs Cultural Center (the Camelot Theaters), 2300 East Baristo Road, Palm Springs, CA. 92262 (across Baristo Road from Palm Springs High School). Tickets are $41.25 with service fee. Contact the theatre by email at DETCTheatre@gmail.com, call 760-565-2476 for tickets or more information, or consult the web site, www.desertensembletheatre.org. The snail mail address is PO Box 2885, Palm Springs, CA 92262.

The rest of Desert Ensemble Theatre’s 2023-24 productions consist of:

THE LIFESPAN OF A FACT by Jeremy Kareken, David Murrell & Gordon Farrell. Directed by David Youse. (January 26–28 & February 2–4, 2024).

Young and ambitious Jim Fingal, fresh out of Harvard, is assigned to fact check renowned essayist John D’Agata’s work. Over the course of a weekend, the two come head to head in a comic battle over facts versus truth. Starring Chuck Yates, John Corr, and Christine Tringali Nunes.

ELLIE, by Bruce Bonafede (World premiere). Directed by Howard Shangraw. (March 8–10 & 15–17, 2024)

Brothers Richard and Warren are grieving the death of one of their wives. Their mourning sparks a confrontation that lays bare their life-long love/hate relationship and changes their lives forever. Bruce Bonafede, an award-winning, Desert-based playwright, wrote this riveting drama for DET company member Richard Marlow, who will star alongside Abe Daniels.

SHERLOCK HOLMES CONFIDENTIAL by Tony Padilla. (World premiere). Directed by Jerome Elliott Moskowitz. (April 12­–­14 and 19–21).

In an alternative version of the Holmes origin story, a spurned romance leads to someone threatening to unmask the young detective as a fraud. Starring Thomas Elliot Fisk, Barbara Kerr, Katrina Dixon, and Justin Ledesma.