From back left: Back Row Clint Barrett, Daren Olsen, John Butler, Robert Tollifson. Front Row Danielle Barrett, Tanya Montoya, Jennifer Hawley, Amber Milne in a previous production. (Submitted: Amber Milne)

By Julia Lovett-Squires

Five Betties

New director to helm ‘Collective Rage’ project with Battlefords Community Players

Feb 12, 2024 | 1:05 PM

A longtime actor is taking a break from treading the boards and moving over to the director’s chair with her directorial debut, Collective Rage: A Play in Five Betties.

“I decided I wanted a new challenge,” Amber Milne, director with Battlefords Community Players, said.

Milne explained that about a year ago she began the process of branching out and approached the Players’ members about the possibility of taking a chance on her. One of the producers told her that if she found a play that Milne was passionate about, they could look into doing it.

A story about five different women – all named Betty – trying to navigate their lives and discover what they could be as they rehearse Pyramus and Thisbe (a story from ancient Greece that would ultimately inspire another story about star-crossed lovers doomed to the same fate). The play is incidentally performed in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and will debut on the company stage April. 5 to 7.

“Mostly what I’ve found is it’s a lot more prep work,” said Milne of the creative process.

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“When you’re the actor, you go to the audition, you try out.”

The first-time director said community theatre is different when it comes to auditions because it’s very much a cold read situation. The work begins after an actor’s been cast.

“When you’re the director, my first task was to read a bunch of plays,” she said.

“I wanted a play that reflected something in me that I would like to share.”

Once Milne landed on Jen Silverman’s 2018 play, she knew it was the one for the company and board members agreed.

“Casting has been interesting, and I would love to obviously cast everyone and have everyone have a role, unfortunately there’s only the five parts,” she said, noting a lot of people came to the auditions.

A different kind of experience

One of the reasons she chose this as her debut is because it’s different from others the theatre has taken on before. The play is also a special presentation and is not a part of the regular season.

“I’ve been told they used to do things that were more – a little bit more absurdist – a little bit more artistic and a little bit more on the weird side,” she said.

The majority now, however, are plays that people know or have seen before and Milne said that’s not a bad thing as it helps keep people wanting to come out and see the shows.

“This is just a nice opportunity to throw in a play where it’s not maybe going to suit everyone’s tastes and that’s OK,” the director said.

“It may open up the doors to people who – who enjoy more – avant garde, more scandalous dramas, comedies etcetera.”

The play not only has a female director at the helm, it also has an all-female cast and it was something Milne wanted to explore as the company has a larger female membership compared to their male counterparts. The director also discovered there weren’t as many female-based productions, though there were mixed and full-male cast scripts.

“When I was looking for a play, I looked specifically for a play written for females,” she said.

“I was only looking to cast females in this production just because we have them, I just thought ‘Why aren’t we working with that?’”

Milne said once the rehearsals are underway, she plans on being hands on with each cast member so they can do deep dives into the lives of the Betties and draw their characters out.

“It’s just a very different experience being a director and not being onstage,” she said, noting they will ask questions about each of the five Betties character arch and motivation.

“Why are they doing what they are doing?”

The show is for mature audiences only and as this is a special performance, they will not be dinner theatre shows.

Tickets will be $30 or two for $40 and can be purchased by calling 306-446-3133 or email: bcpdrama@sasktel.net.

For more information, visit the company’s website.

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julia.lovettsquires@pattisonmedia.com

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