By Payton Calati
Grand Rapids Community College is starting the new semester with a bang. GRCC Players present Macb!tches by Sophie McIntosh, directed by Carrie McNulty.
The production encases power structures, and betrayal between a group of girls. Hailey, played by Iriana Cotto, is a freshman that scores the role of Lady Macbeth. Her upperclassman rivals decide to celebrate with her but the night starts to spiral into betrayal between Hailey and the older girls that seemed like they could have been a good friend to Hailey.
Macb!tches was scheduled to run Jan. 11-13 at 8 p.m. at the Spectrum Theater in room 201, however, GRCC has closed the campus Jan. 12-13 due to expected inclement weather. It’s unclear if the two remaining show dates will be rescheduled.
Tickets for general admission are $15, GRCC staff are $10, and Students are $5. Seats are limited.
With a small cast of only five actors, the production feels more personal and intimate.
Yesenia Cotto, who plays Rachel, feels like the shakespearean theme to the production brought a bigger element to the end results.
“You find that it is very Shakespearean-themed. The heightened emotion, how it switches on a dime. Goes from extreme happiness to extreme dread,” Cotto said in the GRCCtv video.
Shaela Hayden, playing Lexi, explains the expression the production gives off.
“(it is) an expression of someone in a younger generation,” Hayden said. “Someone I think younger than me.”
Kay Felty, playing Piper, says that Macb!tches helps shed some light on darker topics that shouldn’t be the norm anymore.
“Some of the characters do get manipulated by their professors and they share their experiences and they act as if it’s normal,” Felty said. “It’s important to show those aspects so that, at least in the performing arts, it can fizzle out and not be the norm anymore.”
Iriana Cotto, playing Hailey, finds that one of the biggest struggles was finding different pieces to the character.
“All the characters really have a stereotype that you can kind of play on but just as humans were more than just one thing, so trying to find the character and different nuances in the character was challenging,” Cotto said.
