Crimes of the Heart

By Beth Henley

Directed by Kari Goetz and Jaime Giangrande-Holcom

Mar. 5 – 30, 2014

Thu. – Sat. 8pm, Sun. 4pm

Tickets: $28

Shimberg Playhouse, Straz Center for the Performing Arts

Beth Henley’s winner of the 1981 Pulitzer Prize and the New York Drama Critics Circle Award! Warm-hearted, irreverent, zany and brilliantly imaginative, the play teems with humanity and humor as it examines the plight of three Mississippi sisters betrayed by their passions.

The Magrath sisters have gathered to await news of Old Granddaddy, who is living out his last hours in the local hospital. Lenny (Christen Hailey), the oldest sister, is facing diminishing marital prospects; Meg (Katrina Stevenson), the middle sister, who quickly outgrew Hazlehurst, is back after a failed singing career on the West Coast; while Babe (Katie Castonguay), the youngest, is out on bail after having shot her husband in the stomach.

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.

Their grave and yet somehow still hilarious troubles are highlighted by their priggish cousin, Chick (Christina Jane Capehart), and the awkward lawyer who tries to keep Babe out of jail. In the end the play is the story of how its 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 final blackout.

Crimes of the Heart, Henley’s first play, was first performed in February of 1979 at the Actors Theatre of Louisville as part of their new play festival before making its New York debut in December of 1980. The play was turned into a 1986 film that starred Diane Keaton, Jessica Lange, Sissy Spacek and Sam Shepard.

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.

(L-R) Katrina Stevenson, Christen Hailey and Katie Castonguay in Jobsite's Crimes of the Heart. (Photo by Crawford Long.)

Media

Previews

Sisters haunted by suicide in Jobsite’s ‘Crimes of the Heart’ – Tampa Tribune Three picks: ‘Crimes of the Heart,’ Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood, 1964 Beatles tribute – Tampa Bay Times Crimes of the Heart – Creative Loafing

Cast & Crew

  • Kari Goetz – Director
  • Jaime Giangrande-Holcom – Director
  • Matthew Ray – Stage Manager

Cast

  • Christina Jane Capehart – Chick
  • Katie Castonguay – Babe
  • J. Elijah Cho – Barnette Lloyd
  • Christen Hailey – Lenny
  • Christopher Rutherford – Doc Porter
  • Katrina Stevenson – Meg

Crew

  • Kaylin Gess – Scenic Designer
  • Shaun Hailey – Sound Designer
  • Matthew Ray – Lighting Designer
  • Miriam Rochford – Production Stage Manager
  • Beth Tepe-Robertson – Costume Designer

Patron Reviews

Blog Us

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