B*TCH C*LLECTIVE

Theatre Company Est. 2020 by Violet Woundy and Molly Kate Babos

B*TCH C*LLECTIVE’s mission is to combat gender inequity in the theater industry through work produced by, for, and about women and nonbinary people whose complex narratives are not done justice, or purposefully erased. We’re committed to putting more work into the theatrical canon that does not need to involve men, and creates safe communal spaces for women and nonbinary people of all ages, but especially teens and young adults. Our current body of work explores disgustingly beautiful coming of age stories: the grit and glory of growing up female presenting. Why are we ridiculed and manipulated so fiercley? While we can’t offer a definitive solution to this profound pain, we can let those teens and young adults be ugly, with flushed out identities, focusing on their relationships to each other and themselves over men around them. These plays include You're Invited to Jessica's Tenth Birthday Bash! (The Tank), Freshmen (TTS Fringe), Pen Pals (Zoomfest Play Festival), I’m So Bored (In the Works Play Festival), and development of Fifteen (The New School). They each speak to a startlingly common experience for femme-presenting people: the first being lonely and “boy crazy”, your only friends being online; the second about wretched mind games teen girls play for amusement, how incredibly volatile high school feels; the final about being groomed by an older man who should protect us, and how we rediscover agency over our minds and bodies.