CRAZY BETTY by Charlotte Higgins

CRAZY BETTY is the darkly comedic adventure of two women trying to beat a system run by a bunch of local male dimwits. All Betty wants from her dollar store job is a decent shift and insurance to get a hip replacement. Annie, fresh out of prison, can't get a job any place but the local strip club. Bound together by the death of someone they loved, the two women try to outrun their past but find it'...
CRAZY BETTY is the darkly comedic adventure of two women trying to beat a system run by a bunch of local male dimwits. All Betty wants from her dollar store job is a decent shift and insurance to get a hip replacement. Annie, fresh out of prison, can't get a job any place but the local strip club. Bound together by the death of someone they loved, the two women try to outrun their past but find it's been lying in wait all along.
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CRAZY BETTY

Recommended by

  • Michael Aman:
    2 May. 2020
    “ There are so few wonderful roles for women of a certain age. Crazy Betty is so real. We get to see a world that for me is so unfamiliar, but shows this reader that despite the wide gulf from my world, the shared humanity draws me to it like a magnet. I highly recommend Crazy Betty. ”
  • Emma Goldman-Sherman:
    16 Jul. 2019
    “ Wonderful play with great roles for women! Higgins puts Betty and Annie in the most precarious situations. She is unflinching in showing us what they have to deal with. How they try to make things work out in such a world - their tenacity - it'll stay with me a long time. ”
  • Nick Malakhow:
    26 Jun. 2019
    “ An intimate and wonderfully constructed portrait of two women. This piece navigates the territory between comedy and tragedy deftly. Betty and Annie are so richly human, and I root for them the whole time. It's wonderful to see a small piece of rural realism centered on women vs. grizzled and tortured men. What I'm most impressed with is the way in which this play captures the entrenched gender dynamics and socio-cultural atmosphere of the whole world Annie and Betty inhabit with just a few characters. Easy to see this onstage, and I hope to see it produced soon. ”

Character Information

Betty, female, 60s
Annie, female, 20s
Marvin, male, 40s
Josh, male, 20s
Ray, male, 60s

  • Ray
    Sixties,
    White
    ,
    Male
    Ray is obnoxious, but a fun role to play. He owns a local gun store and is a bully, but is truly inept in every way. His attempts to throw his weight around with Betty and Annie are a dismal, often comic, failure.
    Can be played by:
    • Age: 
      60s
    • Race/Ethnicity: 
      White
    • Gender: 
      Female
  • Marvin
    40s,
    White
    ,
    Male
    Betty's boss at the dollar store, is a beleaguered corporate hack, who kids himself into thinking he is doing the right thing.
    Can be played by:
    • Age: 
      40s
    • Race/Ethnicity: 
      White
    • Gender: 
      Male
  • Josh
    20s,
    White
    ,
    Male
    Betty's coworker stoked on drugs and Rocket drinks, imagines himself a black market and drug dealing entrepreneur, while haphazardly running a forklift in the dollar store warehouse.
    Can be played by:
    • Age: 
      20s
    • Race/Ethnicity: 
      White
    • Gender: 
      Male
  • Betty
    Sixties,
    Any (but probably white)
    ,
    Presents Female
    Betty is a woman in her 60s who lives in rural America and is struggling with a low paying job and lack of access to financial security and health care. In spite of the enormous personal losses she has experienced, she is tough and resourceful and has a wry wit. She is a strong female character who knows her way around guns and who has a strong moral center.
    Can be played by:
    • Age: 
      60s
    • Race/Ethnicity: 
      White
    • Gender: 
      Female
  • Annie
    Twenties,
    Any
    ,
    Presents Female
    Annie, a tough young woman in her 20s, returns to her hometown after a tragic personal loss sends her wandering and, ultimately, in prison for several years. The only job she can now find is at the local strip club, which leads to some tough consequences. She tries to reconnect with her old friend Betty, but both of them realize they have been trying to outrun the past and it's been lying in wait for them the whole time. Annie is funny, tough, mouthy and kind.
    Can be played by:
    • Age: 
      20s
    • Race/Ethnicity: 
      White
    • Gender: 
      Female

Development History

  • Reading
    ,
    Southern Discomfort Productions NYC Reading
    ,
    2018

Awards

Semi-Finalist
,
Bechdel Test Festival
,
Bridge Initiative, Tempe, Arizona
,
2019
Finalist
,
2019 O'Neill National Playwrights Conference
,
The O'Neill Center
,
2019
Semi-Finalist
,
Second Rounder
,
Austin Film Festival @ Writer's Conference
,
2018
Semi-Finalist
,
Bay Area Playwrights Festival
,
Playwrights Foundation, San Francisco
,
2018