Crimes of the Heart

Written by Beth Henley
Directed by Steven Biggs

Hazelhurst, Mississippi, where the three Magrath sisters have gathered to await news of the family patriarch, who is living out his last hours in the local hospital. Lenny, is unmarried at thirty and facing diminishing marital prospects; Meg is back after a failed singing career; and Babe is out on bail after having shot her husband. Their troubles, grave and yet somehow, hilarious, are highlighted by their priggish cousin, Chick, and by the awkward young lawyer who tried to keep Babe out of jail while helpless to not 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. Warm-hearted and irreverent, this 1981 Pulitzer Prize winning play teems with humanity and humor as it examines the plight of three young Mississippi sisters betrayed by their passions.