Art House Productions presents "Collective Rage: A Play in Five Betties"

Published by New Jersey Stage
originally published: 08/25/2026

(JERSEY CITY, NJ) -- Art House Productions presents Collective Rage: A Play in Five Betties by Jen Silverman from August 28-29, 2026. Betty is rich; Betty is lonely; Betty's busy working on her truck; Betty wants to talk about love, but Betty needs to hit something. Five different women named Betty collide at the intersection of anger, sex, and the "thea-tah."

This absurdist dark comedy by Jen Silverman explores the concepts of identity, self-discovery, love and rage. We delve into the varied experiences of being queer and female-bodied, how the intersection of gender, race, and sexuality uniquely shapes us, and humanity and art bring us together. It is about five people "in desperate pursuit of happiness, in the face of an almost unbearable loneliness." There is power in our Collective Rage.

Performances take place Friday, August 28 at 7:00pm and Saturday, August 29 at 2:00pm & 7:00pm. Tickets are available for purchase online. The venue is located at 345 Marin Boulevard in Jersey City, New Jersey.

The New York Times called “a fult-tilt lesbian/bi-curious/genderqueer/Shakespearean comedy for everyone,” explores anger, sex, love and the “thea-tah” through the the experiences of five women named Betty.

Collective Rage: A Play in Five Betties premiered at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in Washington, DC in September 2016, under the direction of Mike Donahue. The play premiered off-Broadway at the Lucille Lortel Theatre on September 12, 2018. Produced by MCC Theater and directed by Donahue, the off-Broadway production featured Dana Delany, Adina Verson, Ana Villafañe, Lea DeLaria and Chaunté Wayans.

Reach New Jersey's largest arts & entertainment audience, click here for info on how to advertise at NJ Stage

Collective Rage: A Play in Five Betties is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, Inc.

Playwright Jen Silverman (they/them) is a playwright, novelist and screenwriter. Plays include: The Roommate (Broadway: The Booth Theatre; Regionally: Williamstown Theatre Festival, Actor’s Theatre of Louisville Humana Festival, Steppenwolf, South Coast Repertory Theatre, etc.); Highway Patrol (The Goodman); Spain (Second Stage Theater); Collective Rage: A Play in 5 Betties (Woolly Mammoth, MCC, Southwark Playhouse London); The Moors (Yale Repertory Theatre, The Playwrights Realm) and Witch (Writer’s Theatre, The Geffen, The Huntington). Books include: the debut novel We Play Ourselves, story collection The Island Dwellers and novel There’s Going to be Trouble from Random House. Silverman also wrote the bestselling narrative podcast The Miranda Obsession for Audible, starring Rachel Brosnahan.

Silverman is a three-time MacDowell Fellow, a member of New Dramatists and a Scholar of Note at the American Library in Paris. They write for TV and film, including Tales of the City (Netflix) and Tokyo Vice (Max). Their OSCAR® qualifying short film Troy screened at 70 festivals internationally, including the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, and is featured online in The New Yorker’s Screening Room. Honors include fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts, the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim.

The mission of Art House Productions is to inspire, entertain, and challenge audiences with ambitious performing and visual arts programming; provide arts education to promote lifelong learning to diverse communities; and celebrate the power of the arts to illuminate humanity. AHP provides a home for innovative artists to develop new work, presents emerging and under-recognized artists who are making significant contributions to their respective fields, and serves as a safe space for established artists to take creative risks.