Reviewed by Judy Richter
Beth Henley's 1981 Pulitzer Prize-winning play is set in Hazelhurst, Miss., in the fall of 1974, five years after Hurricane Camille.
The oldest sister, Lenny Magrath (Therese Plaehn), has stayed at home to look after Granddaddy, who is in grave condition in the hospital after a stroke. She once had a boyfriend but rejected him because she can't have children. She fears becoming an old maid on this, her 30th birthday.
The middle sister, freewheeling Meg (Sarah Moser), has been summoned home from California, where she lost her singing career, worked in a dog food factory and suffered a nervous breakdown.
Finally there's the youngest, Babe Botrelle (Lizzie O'Hara), who is staying with her sisters after being released on bail. It seems she shot her husband, a attorney and state senator, because she didn't like his looks. She intended to kill him, but instead shot him in the stomach. He'll survive.
Another family member is their cousin, Chick Boyle (Laura Jane Bailey), who's gossipy, catty and judgmental but very funny.
Completing the picture are Doc Porter (Timothy Redmond), Meg's former boyfriend who's now married with two children; and Barnette Lloyd (Joshua Marx), Babe's gawky but apparently competent attorney who has a vendetta against her husband.
Various scandals are detailed as the sisters weather their personal and family difficulties.
Part of the humor in this Southern Gothic comedy derives from Henley's script with its distinctly down home tone. Beyond that is sharp direction by Giovanna Sardelli, who inserts sight gags and running idiosyncracies, such as Lenny's penchant for cleaning up after everyone else. Then there's Chick's scene-stealing change of panty hose in the first scene.
"Crimes of the Heart" is regarded as an early feminist play not only because its principal characters are women but also because it emphasizes the redemptive power of sisterhood and laughter.
In general the cast is strong, although Plaehn's Lenny can become too hyper at times and the southern accent of O'Hara's Babe can be difficult to understand.
Andrea Bechert's set, with lighting by Steven B. Mannshardt, is both cluttered and homey with its chrome and formica dinette set as its centerpiece. The '70s costumes are by Cathleen Edwards with sound by Jeff Mockus.
Running about two and a half hours with one intermission, "Crimes of the Heart" is entertaining but not exactly great drama.