"While this play
overflows with infectious high spirits, It Is also, unmistakably, the tale
of a very troubled family. Such is Miss Henley's prodigious talent that
she can serve us pain as though it were a piece of cake." --N.Y. Times.
CRIMES OF THE HEART - Beth Henley
1998 Performance Dates were:
Thursday, Friday, Saturday: June 11-13
Thursday, Friday, Saturday: June 18-20
Thursday, Friday, Saturday, June 25-27
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the New York Drama Critics Circle Award.
An astonishing first play, initially presented by the Actors Theatre of Louisville, then off-Broadway, and then on Broadway, where It established the author as a major voice in our theatre. Warm-hearted, irreverent, zany and brilliantly imaginative, the play teems with humanity and humor as it examines the plight of three young Mississippi sisters betrayed by their passions.
"While this play
overflows with infectious high spirits, It Is also, unmistakably, the tale
of a very troubled family. Such is Miss Henley's prodigious talent that
she can serve us pain as though it were a piece of cake." --N.Y. Times.
(Photo Left) Rachel Tomlinson (Chicago) is horrified at the evidence against her sister, Nikki Jacobs (Chicago) given to her by lawyer Anthony Whitaker in the devilish Pulitzer prize winning comedy, Crimes of the Heart.
"It has heart, wit and a surprisingly zany passion that must carry all before it ... it would certainly be a crime for anyone interested in the theatre not to see this play." --N.Y. Post.
"From time to time a play comes along that restores one's faith in our theatre...' --New York Magazine.
THE STORY: The scene Is Hazlehurst, Mississippi,
where the three Magrath sisters have gathered to await news of 
the
family patriarch, their grandfather, who is living out his last hours in
the local hospital. Lenny, the oldest sister, is unmarried at thirty and
facing diminishing marital prospects; Meg, the middle sister, who quickly
outgrew Hazlehurst, is back after a failed singing career on the West Coast;
while Babe, the youngest, is out on bail after having shot her husband
in the stomach. Their troubles, which are grave and yet, somehow, hilarious,
are highlighted by their priggish cousin, Chick, and by the awkward young
lawyer who tries to keep Babe out of jail while helpless not to fall in
love with her. In the end the play is the story of how its young characters
escape the past to seize the future--but the telling is so true and touching
and consistently hilarious that it will linger in the mind long after the
curtain has descended. (Dramatists Play Service, Inc. Catalog)
(Photo Right) Rachel Tomlinson (Chicago), Nikki Jacobs (Chicago) and Rachel Martindale (Lake Forest), as the Magrath sisters, share a memory from the past in the Pulitzer prize winning comedy, Crimes of the Heart.
More scenes from Crimes of the Heart....
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