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Introduction
Three eccentric sisters, a husband who‘s been shot, and a lawyer with a vendetta: the
recipe for a 30th birthday gone perfectly wrong. Family cruelty has never been more
casually dealt than in Beth Henley’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Southern Gothic screwball
comedy. Ebullience abounds in the MaGrath home, even as this Mississippi family faces a
veritable heap of misfortune. Touching, tragic, and daffy, Crimes of the Heart is a darkly
comic family feud of epic proportions.
The Production
Who's Who
Mary Bacon (Lenny MaGrath) Broadway: Rock N’ Roll, Arcadia.
New York: Happy Now? (Primary Stages), Becky Shaw (Second
Stage), Eccentricities of a Nightingale (TACT/Clurman). Regional:
Children (Williamstown Theatre Festival), Bald Soprano
(Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey), Iron Kisses (Geva), Twelfth
Night (Dallas Theatre Center), Misalliance (Old Globe), Hazard County (Humana Festival),
Don Juan (Seattle Rep/McCarter Theatre), The Triumph of Love (Seattle Rep/Long Wharf).
TV/Film: Mildred Pierce, The Good Wife, Law & Order: SVU, Alexander Hamilton, Law &
Order: CI, Johnny Zero, Law & Order.
Molly Camp (Babe Botrelle) Molly‘s regional credits include: The
Lieutenant of Inishmore (Berkeley Rep, Syracuse Stage), Mrs. Miller
Does Her Thing (The Vineyard Playhouse), Out of Orbit (Sundance
Lab, MASS MoCA), Have You Seen Steve Steven? (Sundance Lab,
Utah), The Onion Game (New York Stage and Film), and Bogwog
(O‘Neill). TV: The Good Wife, Law and Order: SVU, Law and Order: CI, Gossip Girl, All My
Children. Film: Fat Girls Can’t Dance, Sponge. BFA from Otterbein College.
Georgia Cohen (Meg MaGrath) toured nationally with the Acting
Company and Guthrie Theater in Henry V (dir. Davis McCallum). NY
credits: Henry V (New Victory/Guthrie); 12th Night (Fiasco Theater);
various workshops at PS 122, The Public, and Atlantic Theater
Company. Regional: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (dir.
Jackson Gay, People‘s Light & Theatre); Postcards From Earth (Guthrie Experience); For a
Barbarian Woman (workshop at Long Wharf); A Christmas Carol (Trinity Repertory
Company); Don Carlos, Red Noses, Oleanna, Aunt Dan and Lemon, and The Crucible (The
Gamm Theater, RI). Georgia is featured as herself in the upcoming documentary about the
Acting Company, Still On the Road (dir. Sara Wolkowitz). She holds BA in Theatre Studies
from Brown University and is a proud graduate of Brown/Trinity Rep‘s MFA Acting Program.
She is from NYC.
Dustin Ingram (Barnette Lloyd) a native of Los Angeles, began
his career on the stage at age six. His regional theater credits
include The Secret Garden (Colin Craven); Oliver! (Oliver Twist); The
Sound of Music (Fredrich); Jesus Christ Superstar; Joseph and the
Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat; Music Man; Fiddler On the Roof;
Hello, Dolly; and Barnum. When he turned twelve, Dustin began to pursue a career in the
TV and film industry. TV credits include Glee, Everybody Hates Chris, Brothers, Zeke and
Luther, The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, and three seasons on Nickelodeon‘s Unfabulous.
Film credits include Sky High, and his upcoming feature film Meet Monica Velour in which
he stars alongside Kim Cattrall and Brian Dennehy (premieres April 8, 2011).
Lucas Van Engen (Doc Porter) is excited to be performing at
McCarter! He‘s had his eyes on this theater for the last five years.
Lucas has been in several shows in New York including Relativity,
which he also produced. Regional: Shane in Take Me Out at the Human Race Theatre Co.
of Dayton, OH (nominated best supporting); and Carl in Lonely Planet at the Actors Theatre
in Grand Rapids, MI (nominated best actor). TV: Law and Order, Gossip Girl, All My
Children. He also writes and edits video and is currently doing all of these things for Thug
Passion the Series, available on Facebook.
Brenda Withers (Chick Boyle) Brenda Withers is very happy to be
back at McCarter where she appeared as Helena in Tina Landau‘s A
Midsummer Night’s Dream. Other recent credits include Pride and
Prejudice (Denver Center), The Less We Talk (Ontological), Twelfth
Night (Arizona Theatre Company), The Philadelphia Story (Ivoryton
Playhouse), Know Dog (Luna Stage), and Matt and Ben (PS122). She is a company
member at the Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater (The Bald Soprano, Mistakes Madeline
Made) and a founding member of Hands and Feet Collective (Double Negative). She
studied theater and religion at Dartmouth College.
Beth Henley (Playwright) was born in Jackson, Mississippi. Her plays have been
produced internationally and translated into over ten languages. Crimes of the Heart (The
Golden Theatre) and The Wake of Jamey Foster (Eugene O‘Neill Theatre) were performed
on Broadway. Off-Broadway productions include: The Miss Firecracker Contest, Am I Blue,
The Lucky Spot, The Debutant Ball, Abundance, Impossible Marriage, and Family Week.
Her play Ridiculous Fraud was produced at McCarter Theatre as well as South Coast
Repertory Theatre. Ms. Henley‘s newest work, The Jacksonian, had a staged reading at
New York Stage and Film. Ms. Henley was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Drama and the
New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best American Play for Crimes of the Heart. Other
awards include: American Theatre Wing 1998 Award for Distinguished Achievement in
Playwrighting; Susan Smith Blackburn Finalist for Crimes of the Heart and Ridiculous Fraud;
Richard Wright Literary Excellence Award 2000; New York Stage and Film Honoree, 2007;
ATHE Career Achievement Award, 2010. Ms. Henley wrote the screenplay for the acclaimed
film version of Crimes of the Heart for which she was nominated for an Academy Award.
The film was directed by Bruce Beresford and starred Diane Keaton, Jessica Lange, Sissy
Spacek and Sam Shepard. She also wrote the screenplay for Miss Firecracker starring Holly
Hunter and Tim Robbins. She wrote the screenplay for Nobody’s Fool that starred Rosanna
Arquette and Eric Roberts, and co-wrote David Byrne‘s True Stories. Her television credits
include Surviving Love, a film for CBS starring Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen as well
as a teleplay for the PBS series, Trying Times, directed by Jonathan Demme. Ms. Henley
has the honor of serving as Theatre Arts Presidential Professor at LMU, Los Angeles. She is
a member of The Fellowship of Southern Writers and the Dramatist Guild.
Liesl Tommy (Director) Recent credits: The Piano Lesson by August Wilson (Yale Rep),
Ruined by Lynn Nottage (Oregon Shakespeare Festival, La Jolla Playhouse, Huntington
Theatre Company, Berkeley Rep). World Premieres: Peggy Picket Sees the Face of God by
Roland Schimmelpfennig (Luminato Festival, Toronto), Eclipsed by Danai Gurira (Yale
Rep, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company and McCarter Theatre), The Good Negro by
Tracey Scott Wilson (The Public Theater, Sundance Theatre Institute, Dallas
Theater Center), A History of Light by Eisa Davis (the Contemporary American Theatre
Festival), Angela’s Mixtape by Eisa Davis (Synchronicity Performance Group, New
Georges), A Stone’s Throw by Lynn Nottage, (Women‘s Project). Other credits: Yankee
Tavern, Stick Fly (CATF); A Christmas Carol (Trinity Rep); In the Continuum (Playmakers
Rep); Flight (City Theatre); Hydriotaphia, Camino Real (Trinity Rep/Brown
Consortium), Split Ends (La MAMA); Bus, Family Ties (Cristian Panaite Play Company) for
the Romania; Kiss Me! Festival; Misterioso 119 (Berkshire Theatre Festival, Act French
Festival/Lark Theatre); Adventures of Barrio Grrrl (Summer Play Festival). Upcoming
projects: The White Man – A Complex Declaration of Love (Dansk Theatre, Denmark). Liesl
was awarded the NEA/TCG Directors Grant, the New York Theatre Workshop
Casting/Directing Fellowship. Liesl has taught and guest directed at Juilliard, Trinity
Rep/Brown University‘s MFA Directing Program and NYU‘s Tisch School of the Arts. She is
a native of Cape Town, South Africa.
Andromache Chalfant (Set Design) has designed scenery for theaters in New York City
and across the country including Playwrights Horizons, The Public Theater, The Vineyard,
The A.R.T, Minnesota Opera, Opera Omaha, and Arena Stage. Her most recent New York
credits are: El Gato Con Botas for The New Victory Theater and Bachelorette for Second
Stage Theater. Her collaborators in theater and opera include Mark Wing -Davey, Les
Waters, Doug Varone, Zelda Fichandler, Sarah Ruhl, Michael Sexton, Davis McCallum, Trip
Cullman, Moisés Kaufman and Blind Summit Theatre. MFA in design NYU/Tisch School of
the Arts.
Marion Williams (Costume Design) McCarter debut. New York–Juilliard: Burn This,
Savage in Limbo; MCC; Mint: The Widowing of Mrs. Holroyd; Women‘s Project. Off
Broadway–Filumena, The Moonlight Room, The Mystery of Attraction. International–Leipzig,
Germany: Turn of the Screw. Regional–Barrington Stage, Centerstage, Cincinnati Ballet,
Louisville Ballet; The Old Globe: Death of a Salesman; Playmakers: In the Continuum
(director Liesl Tommy), The Importance of Being Earnest, Opus, Doubt, Topdog/Underdog,
The Illusion, The Underpants, Yellowman, Proof, etc.; Round House, Sacramento: Tartuffe,
Amadeus, Taming of the Shrew, Othello; Shakespeare Theatre of NJ: Othello, Of Mice and
Men, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, The Cherry Orchard; Two River: The Glass Menagerie, 26
Miles, ReEntry, Barefoot in the Park; Williamstown. MFA University of Washington, Seattle;
2004 Princess Grace Award; 2007 PGF Grant Recipient.
Ann G. Wrightson (Lighting Design) Ann‘s recent work includes: Fences, Huntington
Theatre; August: Osage County, Broadway, London, Sydney, and the national tour (Tony
nomination Best Lighting); Souvenir, Broadway; The Unmentionables, Yale Repertory; UP,
Steppenwolf Theatre; Gem of the Ocean and Radio Golf, Alliance Theatre. Past projects
include A Prayer for Owen Meany and Inana for Denver Theatre Center; 10 seasons at the
Oregon Shakespeare Festival; and projects for ACT, Cleveland Playhouse and Long
Wharf. Current work features: The Diary of Anne Frank at Indiana Repertory and In at the
Pioneer Theatre in Utah. Awards: 2009 IRNE Award for Best Lighting for Fences at
Huntington Theatre, Backstage Garland Award for Magic Fire at OSF and an AUDELCO
nomination.
Karin Graybash (Sound Design) has designed the sound for a number of productions at
McCarter Theatre, including Mrs. Warren’s Profession, Polk County, The Mad 7, and Emily
Mann‘s A Seagull in the Hamptons. Her other design credits include: Arena Stage, Berkeley
Repertory Theatre, Walnut Street Theatre, Two River Theater Company, Dallas Theater
Center, Yale Repertory Theatre, Folger Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, and
Kenny Leon‘s True Colors Theatre Company. Karin is the original live sound consultant for
the award-winning multi-media production Freedom Rising at the National Constitution
Center. She is also the Sound Supervisor for the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers
University.
Spotlight on the Set
Set Designer Andromache Chalfant offers insight into creating the physical world of
this American Classic.
A model of the set designed by Andromache Chalfant.
Andromache Chalfant, set designer for McCarter‘s upcoming production of Crimes of the
Heart, has been designing whole houses lately, even though the play takes place in just one
room. ―It might seem odd to do so much thinking about rooms of a house that you won‘t see
on stage,‖ she says, ―but you can look at hundreds of layouts for old homes before you find
one that really lets you get inside the logic of the house.‖
―Setting the whole play in a kitchen is great because it‘s a central recognizable element,‖
Chalfant says. ―But it creates a challenge to fill the stage believably. One way to address
that is to think about the rest of the house. How do you make the house live in the
transitions—the thresholds between the kitchen and the rest of the house or the rest of the
town? What do we see when we look through those doors?‖
―I don‘t know if this is part of the quintessential Southernness of the play, but there is an
utter lack of privacy in this kitchen. There are all these entrances that disrupt private
conversations or actions. In this house, people can enter your space without warning. So
that‘s interesting to consider thematically, of course, but it also necessitates practical
consideration of things like, where do we put the doors? How many ways in and out are
there? How do windows figure into the public and private spaces in the MaGrath sisters‘
world?‖
Although the term ―kitchen sink drama‖ has taken on a slightly old-fashioned, or even
disparaging valence, Chalfant is quick to point out that the term was actually co ined to
describe a revolutionary form of theater, which depicted working class people, and stood in
stark contrast to the popular plays of the day set in parlors and drawing rooms. ―A kitchen is
like the backstage of the house,‖ Chalfant says. ―It‘s the least formal room. It‘s where things
are prepared.‖
When asked about how it feels to take on a modern American classic as a set designer,
Chalfant thinks for a moment. ―What is the definition of a classic? Something that lasts, I
guess. Something that holds up. A classic takes on new layers of meaning over time.‖
When audiences experience McCarter‘s production of Crimes of the Heart, the creative
team wants the audience to feel not only the presence of the rest of the MaGrath house, but
also the history within its walls. ―The MaGrath kitchen has layers of history from the 1940s
through the 1970s,‖ says Chalfant. ―So I‘ve been thinking about what the bottom layer of
history is in the MaGrath kitchen. Under any updates, like new appliances or remodeled
floors, what is the underlying structure? What has this family been building on for the last 30
years?‖
The Play
Character Profiles
Lenny MaGrath: Celebrating her 30th birthday, Lenny is the older sister to Meg and Babe.
Maternal and responsible, she‘s trying to keep things together. She‘s lonely.
Meg MaGrath: 27. Middle sister to Lenny and Babe. She was wild in high school, and left
for California to pursue her singing career.
Babe Botrelle: 24. The youngest of the MaGrath sisters. She‘s maybe a little crazy, but
sweet.
Chick Boyle: 29. First cousin to the MaGrath sisters. She is exudes a superficial Southern
charm. Self-absorbed, obsessed with appearances.
Doc Porter: 30. Meg‘s ex-boyfriend. Recently returned to Hazelhurst, he is married (to a
Yankee!) with children.
Barnette Lloyd: 26. Babe‘s lawyer. He‘s bright and ambitious, working his first real case. He
knows how to hold a grudge, and he believes in revenge.
Setting
Hazlehurst, Mississippi
Crimes of the Heart is set in the real-life town of Hazlehurst, Mississippi. Nestled in the heart
of Copiah County, thirty-five miles south of Jackson, Hazlehurst was founded just three
years before the outbreak of the American Civil War, and still boasts a population under
5,000 people.
Beth Henley‘s grandparents were long-time residents of Hazlehurst, and Henley spent many
childhood summers there. On why she chose the town as the setting for Crimes of the
Heart, Henley says: ―I liked the idea of how really small it was…everyone knew everyone‘s
business so easily and there were social codes that were pretty engrained.‖
Crimes of the Heart: An American Classic
Since exploding onto the New York theater scene
thirty years ago, Crimes of the Heart has managed to
maintain its popularity and confirm its spot as an
American classic. Not only does the play receive
roughly 130 nonprofessional and between five to ten
professional productions a year, it has become a
Photo by David S. Talbott, courtesy of Actors
Theatre of Louisville.
Lee Anne Fahey, Kathy Bates, and Susan
Kingsley in the 1979 premiere of Crimes of the
Heart.
staple in acting, directing, and theater history classes
across the country.
Actors Theatre of Louisville (1979)
Crimes of the Heart was a winner of the Great American Play Contest in 1977-78 after Beth
Henley‘s friend submitted the play. Actors Theatre of Louisville produced the world premiere
as part of its Festival of New American Plays in 1979.
Manhattan Theatre Club/Broadway (1980-81)
Melvin Bernardt directed the first New York production of Crimes at Manhattan Theatre Club
in 1980 starring Lizbeth Mackay, Mary Beth Hurt, and Mia Dillon. The production was hugely
successful and transferred to Broadway in 1981 where it earned four Tony nominations.
An evening of antic laughter… Such is Miss Henley’s prodigious talent that she can serve us
pain as though it were a piece of cake.
- Frank Rich, The New York Times
Movie (1986)
Beth Henley adapted her script for the big screen in 1986, which earned her an Academy
Award nomination. The star-studded cast includes Diane Keaton, Jessica Lange, Sissy
Spacek, and Sam Shepard.
Second Stage (2001)
Second Stage – mounted a high profile production of Crimes of the Heart in 2001. Garry
Hynes directed and Enid Graham, Amy Ryan, and Mary Catherine Garrison played the three
MaGrath sisters.
Roundabout (2008)
The most recent New York revival was produced three years ago. Kathleen Turner
generated buzz as the show‘s director, and the three actresses in the lead roles were:
Jennifer Dundas, Sarah Paulson, and Lily Rabe.
The return of Crimes of the Heart … gives another handful of talented women a chance to
exercise—and, in the case of Ms. Turner, deepen—their gifts onstage.
- Charles Isherwood, The New York Times
Under Kathleen Turner’s direction, the production makes clear just how seductive the
writer’s Southern-fried world is to actors: Henley provides enough subtext for her
characters to seem complicated, and just enough wackiness to allow an actor to show off.
- Hilton Als, The New Yorker
East West Players Production (2010)
As well as receiving a host of loyal revivals, Crimes of
the Heart has been performed by theater companies
who shed new light on the work with fresh and
unexpected perspectives. At the end of last year, the
East West Players, in association with UCLA‘s
Department of Asian-American Studies, became the
second company to produce Beth Henley‘s classic with
Sisters Babe Botrelle (Maya Erskine, left), Meg
MaGrath (Kimiko Gelman, center), and Lenny MaGrath
(Elizabeth Liang, right) share a light-hearted moment
after looking at their family photo album in East West
Players‘ production of Crimes of the Heart.
Photo courtesy of Michael Lamont, East West Players.
an entirely Asian American cast (the first was the 1996 production by The Repertory Actors
Theatre in Seattle). The show was directed by Leslie Ishii and featured Maya Erskine,
Kimiko Gelman, and Elizabeh Liang.
An Asian-American production of a Southern play was long overdue. Now, Ishii’s staging
of Henley’s best work shows us that both location and cast composition don’t matter. On ly
thing that really matters is in the heart.
- Ray Luo, stagehappenings.com
Interview with Beth Henley
Conducted by McCarter Literary Intern Emilia LaPenta on
January 24, 2011
Emilia LaPenta: I wanted to start by asking you about your relationship with McCarter
and how and when that began?
Beth Henley: Well, actually it began with [former McCarter Dramaturg] Janice Paran. I was
in New York, Family Weekend had opened, it was about ten, maybe eleven years ago, and
she came to talk to me about doing a commission for McCarter. It was just such a great
time, because I‘d been knocked down by the critics and my play only ran a week, so I was
actually thinking, ―They‘re really brave to go on and offer me this now!‖ So, I started working
on a play called Ridiculous Fraud. It took me a long time to write it, it seems like. I went a
couple of times to the Writers‘ Retreat, which is great. Emily was very generous. I had at
least two readings there to try to get the play sorted out before they produced it.
EL: What is it like, now, having us produce Crimes of the Heart, which must receive
so many productions in a year? What does it mean to have McCarter do a production
of this play now?
BH: Well, I‘m just thrilled. I don‘t feel very close to many theaters, but McCarter I really feel
a kinship with, so I‘m just so pleased that they picked my play. It sounds like it‘s going to be
a great production.
EL: The three women in your play seem so young when you read the play, and you
were quite young when you wrote it. Has your relationship with the characters in your
play changed in the thirty years since you wrote it?
BH: Well, it‘s so funny because they did not seem young to me when I wrote it. Thirty really
did seem like, her life is over! I think I have more perspective on their youth. I think the play
has a hope to it, because they‘re young. Although they‘re dealing with some real ghosts and
heartbreak, they‘re young enough, they have the resilience to have great lives. Or good
lives, or to have true lives.
EL: There seems to me to be something eternal about sibling relationships. That idea
that you (or I, at least) revert back to a twelve-year-old self when around siblings. In
your opinion, are sibling relationships something that shift or remain the same over
time?
BH: That‘s interesting. I was just over at a friend‘s house for dinner and the father was
saying his daughter who came back from college, who‘s 26, is upset because he didn‘t fix
her coffee. When I‘m with my brothers and sisters it all comes back to the same thing. I think
that‘s true and not true. When you grow up with these people, the heartbreak that life gives
you is sort of transforming in and of itself. You see these people and they stole your doll or
you stole their doll, but you‘ve seen some of the realities of life that they‘ve gone through
and you‘ve gone through with them, and I think it does change. I mean, it has for me.
EL: Changed in what way? What are some of the positive changes that have come out
of that time?
BH: I think a positive change is you lose hope that it will change, and once you‘re there,
then it‘s kind of like, you‘re a little more relaxed and present. You‘re not straining.
EL: I’ve had the opportunity to see plays with many female protagonists. I think of
Lisa Kron’s Well and Sarah Ruhl’s Eurydice, and others that feature women, but I
know this isn’t always the case and certainly wasn’t the case when Crimes was first
produced. I wonder what drew you to writing about three sisters and why having three
female leads was important to you.
BH: I think there were fewer women playwrights, fewer women directors and producers,
there were not as many parts for women and I just, I have four sisters. It‘s autobiographical
in some sort of subliminal, spiritual way, because I do come f rom Mississippi, and that‘s just
what interested me. What happens when something goes terribly awry and the family‘s
already been kicked in the face? Now they‘ve got to deal with somebody having shot their
husband. And the idea that all of them are not close, they all have big secrets from each
other, but I think by the end of the play there‘s at least a note of mercy and honesty.
EL: I wonder if you have any thoughts about having this play produced now and the
importance of McCarter choosing a piece that centers around female protagonists. Is
that something that has taken on new meaning for you?
BH: One thing that I think is great that the play does, is give women actresses the
opportunity to show their skills. You have to be a comedian and you have to be able to do
something dramatic to make this play work. And it‘s three women. All the parts are good. I
always feel like that is wonderful. Looking back, to me, at the time I wrote it, people would
say, ―Are you a feminist?‖ and I was kind of perplexed by the question. But now I see it as
very much a play of its time in such a specific way that it, perhaps, it is more universal.
Because it is very much about women in a rage. It takes place in 1974, right at the cusp of
the women‘s liberation movement. But when you‘re in the South, you don‘t have that to hold
on to, so you end up shooting your husband. They take their anger out in other ways. I
mean, they‘re trying to get liberty back from Old Granddaddy. Trying to sing and get a life
that is creative. So looking back on it, I find that kind of surprising—―Wow, it really is a
feminist play!‖
EL: Was the setting then something you started with when you were writing, or
something that came afterwards after a lot of the story had developed?
BH: Well, I started it to take place in Hazlehurst, Mississippi, which is a town of 3,000 in
southern Mississippi, which is where my grandparents lived, my father‘s parents, so I knew
the town so to speak. I liked the idea of how really small it was, and so everyone knew
everyone‘s business so easily and there were social codes that were pretty engrained. And I
started thinking, my grandfather got lost in the woods once, his horse came back without
him. And they sent helicopters and everyone came home from college and searched for him
and finally he was found. But when I originally thought about writing the play I thought, ―I
want to write about something where tragedy happens that brings everyone back.‖ Not back
for a holiday or something good, they‘re coming back for something tragic or potentially
tragic. But then, as I was writing it I thought, ―Uh, I think it would better if…‖ I don‘t know,
that just got lost. He got put in the hospital.
EL: A lot of the writing about you talks about you as a Southern writer and about you
being from Mississippi. I wonder how you think this region has affected or inspired
you?
BH: Oh, I definitely think it‘s affected me, in many ways, because that‘s what you‘re exposed
to when you don‘t have the perspective to know there may be other worlds, may be other
sort of universes that are different. I mean, actually my most recent play, The Jacksonian,
takes place in Jackson, Mississippi and it takes place in 1964—it‘s sort of a place I keep
going back to. That I‘m haunted by.
EL: As someone who’s labeled as a Southern writer, do you think there are
characteristics of Southern writing that you feel particularly connected to?
BH: I guess the storytelling aspect, just enjoying hearing a good story told well. And
language. I mean the South, they always say people talk a little bit longer because you‘re
sitting out on the porch. It‘s warm, as opposed to, it‘s freezing up North and you can‘t really
talk. There was something languid about the language when I was growing up.
EL: Also, I wonder about the Southern sense of humor, the darkness, this worldview
of seeing tragic events through a humorous lens. Is this something you think is
connected to your experience with these stories from the South? Or an aspect of
growing up in your family?
BH: I think there was some sort of definite underbelly of: your pain is not precious, just get
on with it, or make a joke of it. There‘s a sense of irony: don‘t take yourself too seriously,
don‘t get dramatic. I don‘t know if that comes from the Civil War, from having los t and facing
the humiliation, you kind of can‘t look at tragic things head on? I‘ve found the way to survive
them is to sneak under them, over them. People in the South can present their pain but not
make it a burden on others.
EL: You’ve lived in California for quite a long time now, haven’t you? What does the
Southern identity mean to you now, living in a different part of the country? Is it still
something you feel connected to?
BH: I do. I love to go back to the South. I‘m a member of the Fellowship o f Southern Writers,
which is mainly novelists and poets, and also I went to Sewanee to teach this summer. I like
to go back to the South. Actually, I just like to be around people who are writers and poets.
As opposed to, I don‘t know, playwrights. It‘s nice to be around other people who are
working in different ways.
EL: I have one more question. I was reading the other day the interview you did for
Ridiculous Fraud and you mentioned in that interview: “It’s funny how you write
plays, they can be ahead of you.” I wonder if there’s a lesson that you’ve come across
since writing Crimes that perhaps the characters haven’t yet learned? Or something
from the play that you’ve come to appreciate more now that you’re able to look back
on it?
BH: Well, what I meant to say is the play is prescient. Sometimes the play knows more than
you do. And I think, in the sense of Crimes, that play at least knew the direction to take your
life in was toward connection. I‘m not sure that I knew that, or that I even know that now .
And Ridiculous Fraud, it kept, the last scene I knew was in a graveyard and their mother
died, and then my mother died when I was halfway through the play. I mean, the strangest
things like that have happened.
What is Southern Gothic?
By Janice Paran
The Encyclopedia Britannica defines Southern Gothic as ―a style of writing practiced by
many writers of the American South whose stories set in that region are characterized by
grotesque, macabre, or fantastic incidents.‖
Derived from the Gothic genre—popularized by Horace Walpole‘s 1765 novel The Castle of
Otranto, whose medieval setting and supernatural elements were widely imitated—the term
has been invoked to describe a wide range of American writers, notably William Faulkner,
Flannery O‘Connor, Tennessee Williams, and Carson McCullers, but also contemporary
authors as diverse in their interests and literary imaginations as Anne Rice, Cormac
McCarthy, and Beth Henley.
These days ―Southern Gothic‖ encompasses all manner of lurid, mysterious, otherworld ly, or
merely eccentric goings-on in Southern fiction, and while scholars, critics, and the writers
themselves variously dissect, debate or dismiss the tag, many would agree with Carson
McCullers‘ observation that
Southern writers frequently juxtapose ―the tragic with the humorous, the immense with the
trivial, the sacred with the bawdy, the whole soul of man with a materialistic detail.‖
On a less exalted plane, the novelist Pat Conroy put it this way: ―My mother, Southern to the
bone, once told me, ‗All Southern literature can be summed up in these words: On the night
the hogs ate Willie, Mama died when she heard what Daddy did to Sister.‘‖
Beth Henley, dubbed a Southern Gothic writer from the beginning of her career, finds the
designation of limited value. Still, she acknowledges that something of her Mississippi
upbringing adheres in all of her writing, regardless of setting. ―As much as I try to shake it, I
can‘t,‖ she concedes. ―It‘s just there. A kind of sensibility that‘s dark and light at the same
time. A kind of Grand Guignol view of life.‖ From Babe‘s singularly inept suicide attempts in
Crimes of the Heart to the graveyard picnic in Ridiculous Fraud, Henley‘s plays routinely
locate the glorious histrionic streak that courses through calamity.
I didn’t consciously say that I was going to be Southern Gothic or grotesque. I just write
things that are interesting to me. I guess maybe that’s just inbred in the South. You hear
people tell stories, and somehow they are always more vivid and violent than the stories
people tell out in Los Angeles.
- Beth Henley, in Mississippi Writers Talking
Context
Hurricane Camille By Erica Nagel
Hurricane Camille, which swept
through the Mississippi gulf coast in
1969, remains the second most intense
hurricane in recorded US history. It was
classified as a category 5 storm, and,
although all wind-speed recording
equipment was destroyed, NOAA
Richelieu apartments before the hurricane, 1965 Photo used with
permission from Dan Ellis, author of All About Camille
estimates that the peak winds were
close to 200 miles per hour. Gulf coast
residents were forced to evacuate after
the Air Force reported that storm
surges could bring tidal waves of 25
feet to the shore. When making the
decision to evacuate, the civil defense
director of Harrison County called the
Air Force report ―the difference
Site of Richelieu apartments after the hurricane, 1969 Photo used
with permission from Dan Ellis, author of All About Camille
between survival and 10,000
tombstones.‖
Hurricane Camille caused 347 deaths and over a billion dollars (about 8 billion in 2011
dollars) in property damage between the winds, tidal waves, and resulting floods. Although
Hazlehurst, where the play takes place, is located more than 150 miles from the coast and
was spared the most destructive effects of the storm, the economic impact was felt
throughout the state.
As noted in the play, Meg and Doc weathered the storm in Biloxi, a city directly on the gulf
coast, which sustained unprecedented damage and destruction. One of the most famous (if
possibly apocryphal) events during Hurricane Camille was the so-called ―Hurricane Party‖ in
the Richelieu Apartments in Pass Christian, Mississippi, about 20 miles west of Biloxi.
According to media accounts, 24 residents refused to evacuate and instead gathered to
drink, socialize and watch the storm. The Hurricane Party ended tragically when the high
winds completely destroyed the apartment complex. Only one of the attendees survived.
Mississippi Race Relations and Racial Politics in 1974 By Erica Nagel
In a 1981
interview in
Mississippi
Writers
Talking, Beth
Henley
recounts a
raciallycharged story
that stayed
with her as
Black students rally for equal civil liberties at
the University of Mississippi's Fulton
Chapel, 1970. Image used from University
of Mississippi yearbook with permission.
she created
the back story
of Babe‘s
decision to
shoot her husband: ―I heard this story about [a
moment when] Walter Cronkite was sitting up on
the front porch of these rich people‘s house in
the South, and this little black kid came up and
said he wanted ice cream, and the man came
down and socked him in the face and said,
‗Don‘t you ever come around to this front door
again.‘… I thought, ‗God, I‘d like to kill somebody
Further Resources and
Primary Sources:
Boyd, James. “It’s All in the
Charts.” New York Times
Magazine, 17 May 1970, 215.
Danielson, Chris. "Lily White and
Hard Right: the Mississippi
Republican Party and Black Voting,
1965-1980.‖ The Journal of Southern
History, February, 2009.
Lamis, Alexander "The Future of
Southern Politics: New Directions for
Dixie," in Joe P. Dunn and Lawrence
Preston, ed., The Future South: A
Historical Perspective for the Twentyfirst Century. Chicago: U. of Illinois
Press, 1991, 61-62.
Killian, Lewis. White Southerners.
New York: Random House, 1970
Kulinksi, James H. and Cobb,
Michael D.―When White Southerners
Converse About Race,‖ in Jon
Hurwitz and Mark Peffley ed.,.
Perception and Prejudice: Race and
Politics in the United States. New
Haven: Yale University Press, 1998,
35-57.
Phillips, Kevin. The Emerging
Republican Majority. Arlington House,
1969.
for just being cruel like that to some innocent person.‘ So that kind of gave me the idea of
Zackery beating up on Willie Jay.‖
Although the civil rights movement had reached its peak in the late 1960s, for many
Mississipians, the early 1970s was a period of uncomfortable adjustment. Segregation, poll
taxes, and race-based hiring discrimination were no longer enshrined in law as acceptable
practices, but personal and institutional racism were still the norm as many white Mississippians
looked for ways to act out and capitalize on the disaffection and fear they felt in the new world
order.
In their study of how Southerners discussed race in the wake of the civil rights movement,
James Kuklinski and Michael D. Cobb describe the ways in which white Southerners, having
been told their whole lives that they were better and more deserving than their black neighbors,
now had to shift their identities to reflect a world in which equality was legally mandated. Though
there were plenty of white Southerners who accepted the shifts in the culture, many felt
cheated, angry and fearful of the new order, and continued to intimidate and perpetrate violence
upon the black community.
In addition to racism from individuals, larger institutional
systems of racism and division were being insidiously
structured through national and state politics. When
Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, he
famously noted that the Democrats had ―lost the South for
a generation.‖ Republican strategists, such as Kevin
Phillips, quickly capitalized on the feeling of betrayal and
disaffection among white Southern voters. In his 1969
book, The Emerging Republican Majority, Phillips
explained the central element of his ―Southern Strategy,‖
which identified angry white Southerners as the future of
Racist hazing practices at an all-white Ole
Miss Fraternity captured on film in 1973.
Image used from University of Mississippi
yearbook with permission.
the Republican Party. In a 1970 profile in the New York
Times Magazine, he said ―From now on, the Republicans
are never going to get more than 10-20 percent of the
Negro vote and they don‘t need any more than that.…The more Negroes who register as
Democrats in the South, the sooner the Negrophobe whites will quit the Democrats and
become Republicans. That‘s where the votes are.‖
In 1968, Nixon was elected by a conservative ―silent majority,‖ due in part to his campaign of
states‘ rights—which had become in some ways a stand-in phrase for political support of
segregation and other pre-civil rights laws. In his book chapter entitled, ―The Future of
Southern Politics: New Directions for Dixie,‖ Alexander Lamis recounts a startling quote by
Lee Atwater, Ronald Reagan‘s campaign manager leading up to the 1980 election. Atwater
explained the Southern Strategy and the emphasis on states‘ rights and economic polic y
this way: ―You start out in 1954 by saying, ‗N---, n---, n---.‘ By 1968 you can‘t say ‗n---‗—that
hurts you. Backfires. So you say stuff like ‗forced busing,‘ ‗states' rights,‘ and all these things
that you‘re talking about are totally economic things and a by-product of them is [that] blacks
get hurt worse than whites. And subconsciously maybe that is part of it... because obviously
sitting around saying, ‗We want to cut this,‘ is much more abstract than even the busing
thing and a hell of a lot more abstract than 'N----, n----.‘‖
Chekhov’s Three Sisters as a Source of Inspiration By Erica Nagel
“In life, there are no
clear-cut consequences
of reasons; in it,
everything is mixed up
together; the
important and the
paltry, the great and
the base, the tragic and
the ridiculous.”
-Anton Chekhov
“I like how he doesn’t
judge people as much
as just shows…the
comic and tragic parts
of people.”
-Beth Henley on the plays of
Anton Chekhov
Anton Chekhov with dog
Beth Henley has said in multiple interviews that Anton Chekhov‘s work has been a major
source of inspiration throughout her career. In the January 2005 edition of American Drama,
she even went so far as to state that Crimes of the Heart is ―loosely based‖ on his Three
Sisters.
In her close analysis of the two plays, literary scholar Joanne Karpinski writes: ―It may seem
premature to compare a playwright‘s first work (albeit a Pulitzer winner) to the epitome of
Chekhov‘s dramatic ouvre, but similarities of plot, setting, theme, and character invite such a
comparison.‖ She goes on to point out parallels between specific characters: the ―vulgar‖
female intruders, Natasha and Chick; self-sacrificing Olga and Lenny, both believed to be
spinsters at thirty; Masha‘s wasted talent as a piano player and Meg‘s thwarted singing
career; the duel between two admirers of the young, naïve Irina and Babe‘s shooting of her
husband to defend her lover‘s honor. Though certainly the parallels become tenuous when
examined too closely, Karpinski notes that ―what Henley‘s dramatized siblings chiefly have
in common with Chekhov‘s is a sense of blighted expectations about work and love.‖
Of course, ―another striking connection between Crimes of the Heart and Three Sisters is
their shared commitment to tragicomic tone,‖ she writes. ―Whatever causes might account
for the emphasis on comedy in Henley‘s tragicomic mixture, comparison with Chekhov on
this point suggests that depth need not be sacrificed to laughter.‖
Three Sisters Synopsis
Chekhov‘s Three Sisters is set in a provincial Russian town. At
the start of the play the three sisters, Olga, Masha, and Irina,
are observing the first anniversary of their father‘s death as
well as celebrating Irina‘s name-day. The three women, all
under that age of thirty, grew up in Moscow with their brother
Andrei, and often reflect on the happiness and sophistication
of their lives there. None of them are finding fulfillment with
their existences in a small town and most of the excitement of
their lives is the result of their interactions with the soldiers
who are living nearby. Olga is the oldest sister, just barely
thirty at the end of the play and already considered a spinster.
Mary Stuart Masterson, Linda Hunt,
and Frances McDormand in Three
Sisters, directed by Emily Mann at
McCarter 1992.
She takes care of the other siblings in a motherly way, never
marries, and begrudgingly accepts a position as headmistress.
Masha is a trained concert pianist (the artist of the family) who married young, has a volatile
affair with a Lieutenant, and is eventually heartbroken by his transfer but is taken back by
her husband. Irina, only twenty, has a childish enchantment with the world and dreams of
returning to Moscow and finding romance. She ends up settling with Baron Tuzenbach
whom she respects, but does not love. The Baron is shot in a duel with another of Irina‘s
admirers and Irina decides to leave the town and devote her life to work and service. At the
play‘s end, the three sisters embrace as they watch the soldiers depart.
Mississippi as Muse
It’s sort of a place I keep going back to. That I’m haunted by.
-Beth Henley on how Mississippi has inspired her writing.
It‘s hard to ignore how influential growing up in Mississippi has been on Beth Henley‘s style
and choice of subject, but she‘s certainly not the first to have fallen under the state‘s
peculiar inspirational spell. The list of artists with roots in Mississippi is impressive and there
is clearly something about the people, their stories, the small towns, and the warm climate
that has fed and encouraged a vibrant literary tradition.
Below are some reflections on Mississippi from the best and brightest writers of this prolific
state.
“Some commentators attribute the abundance of excellent Mississippi literature to
Mississippi’s history of storytelling, to the oral and folk traditions of the yarn, the tale, the
folktale of both black and white people. They believe that Mississippians love a good story,
whether an embellished factual account of fishing or hunting, or true stories of
relationships—of love and rebuff and tricks and trading, or the spinning of fictive
explanations of the mysteries of everyday life or those of the cosmos. Stories are what
Mississippians have thrived upon. Mississippians have not been much for abstractions, so
theories and philosophy typically have not gone over well in Mississippi, but good storie s
have.”
-From Mississippi Mind by Willie Morris, author of My Dog Skip and winner of Houghton
Mifflin Literary Fellowship Award.
My Mississippi Spring—
My warm loving heart-a-fire
With early greening leaves,
Dogwood branches laced against the sky;
Wild forest nature paths
Heralding Resurrection
Over and over again.
Courtesy of the Margaret
Walker Center, Jackson
State University
-From “My Mississippi” by Margaret Walker, African-American poet and
novelist known for her books, For My People and Jubilee.
“In the beginning it was virgin—to the west, along the Big River, the alluvial swamps
threaded by black almost motionless bayous and impenetrable with cane and buckvine and
cypress and ash and oak and gum; to the east, the hardwood ridges and the prairies where
the Appalachian mountains died and buffalo grazed; to the south, the pine barrens and the
moss-hung live oaks and the greater swamps less of earth than water and lurking with
alligators and water moccasins where Louisiana in its time would begin.”
-William Faulkner, Nobel Prize winner known for his experimental, often stream -ofconsciousness, writing style and stories that take place in the American South. This
quotation is from the only non-fiction piece he ever wrote about his
home state, Mississippi.
“I don’t know how long it will last, that the
Southerner, the Mississippian, has got a character
that does stem from his sense of place and of the
significance of history and so on. That hasn’t
changed. I don’t mean he’s living the past. I’m not
talking about that. It’s just a sense of continuity that
has always characterized us, I think; a knowledge of
Eudora Welty, LLC
Eudora Welty, Photograph by
Kay Bell
family stories, that sense of generations and
continuity. That gives us an identity. I think that’s still there.”
-Eudora Welty, Pulitzer Prize winning writer and charter member of the Fellowship of
Southern Writers, interviewed in Mississippi Writers Talking.
“You can say I found my voice in my Mississippi background. In Mississippi I found a place
to house the uncertainty of chaos ushered in by fear and anxiety, and I found in the people I
had known a language and a music to complement my voice…Though there will be other
places in my life none will be home, as close and as painfully or joyfully familiar as
Mississippi.”
-Sterling Plumpp, author of Hornman and professor at University of Illinois, quoted in My
Mississippi.
Selected Mississippi Writers:
William Faulkner (1897-1962), Nobel Prize for Literature, As I Lay Dying, The Sound and the Fury
Richard Wright (1908-1960), Guggenheim Fellowship Winner, Native Son, Black Boy
Eudora Welty (1909-2001), Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, The Optimist’s Daughter
Tennessee Williams (1911-1983), Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Streetcar Named Desire, Glass
Menagerie, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Margaret Walker Alexander (1915-1998), Jubilee
Walker Percy (1916-1990), National Book Award, The Moviegoer
Shelby Foote (1916-2005), The Civil War: A Narrative
Sterling Plumpp (1940), Hornman; Half Black, Half Blacker
Richard Ford (1944), Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, Independence Day
Billie Jean Young (1936), 1984 MacArthur Fellow, Fannie Lou Hamer: This Little Light
Beverly Lowry (1938), Daddy’s Girl, Boys in the Band
John Grisham (1955), A Time to Kill, The Pelican Brief
Natasha Trethewey (1966), Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, Native Guard
Additional Resources:
Mississippi Writers and Musicians
The Fellowship of Southern Writers
A Brief History of Dark Comedy
Since the time of the Ancient Greeks and Romans comedy has often been considered the
shallow younger brother of mighty tragedy. However, most of the best comedies are
complex in nature and centuries of playwrights have found humor in (or poked fun at) the
darker and more serious elements of our existence.
Ancient Greece (330 B.C.E): Aristotle‘s Poetics suggest that the laughter and pleasure of
comedy have cathartic qualities not unlike those found in tragedy.
Commedia dell’arte (16th Century): Humor in classic commedia often derives from the
repeated failures of a foolish older man in his attempt to block the romance of young lovers.
Shakespearean Comedy (16th Century): Adept at intertwining comedy and tragedy, most
of Shakespeare‘s plays have elements of both (a great example of this is the gravedigger
scene from Hamlet).
French Comedy of Manners (17th Century): Molière is the king of the French Drawing
Room Comedy, which satirizes social class structures.
Restoration Comedy (17th/18th Century): English Restoration comedies, such as those by
Wycherley and Congreve, are often bawdy and take a critical view of romantic love, prizing
nimble social skills and self-promotion over virtue and honesty.
The Absurdists (20th Century): Beckett, Pinter, and Ionesco are a few of a number of wellknown Absurdists whose plays reflect their belief in the meaninglessness of life, a t ruth that
teeters between the hilarious and the terrifying.
Contemporary Comedy (20th and 21st century): Americans are well-versed in using irony,
juxtaposition, and pathos as a source of humor in contemporary culture. Plays such as Loot
or Ridiculous Fraud as well as television shows like Seinfeld and films like Harold and
Maude have made us laugh at the absurdities inherent in catastrophic situations.
Nothing is funnier than unhappiness, I grant you that.
- Samuel Beckett, Endgame
Additional Resources
Bibliography:
Betchtel, Stefan. Roar of the Heavens: Surviving Hurricane Camille. Secaucus: Citadel,
2006.
Boyd, James. ―It‘s All in the Charts.‖ New York Times Magazine, 17 May 1970, 215.
Available to view at: http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/books/phillipssouthern.pdf
Chirco, Miriam. ―Dancing on the Edge of a Cliff‖ in Julia A Fesmire, ed., Beth Henley: A
Casebook. New York: Routledge, 2002. 1-31.
Craig, Carolyn Casey. Women Pulitzer Prize Winners. Jefferson: McFarland, 2004.
Danielson, Chris. ―Lily White and Hard Right‖: The Mississippi Republican Party and Black
Voting, 1965-1980.‖ The Journal of Southern History, February, 2009.
Hearn, Philip D. Hurricane Camille: Monster Storm of the Gulf Coast. Jackson:University
Press of Mississippi, 2004.
Jones, John Griffin. Mississippi Writers Talking. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi,
1982.
Karpinksi, Joanne. ―Ghosts of Chekhov‘s Three Sisters Haunt Beth Henley‘s Crimes of the
Heart‖ in June Schluter, ed., Modern Drama: The Female Canon. Madison: Farleigh
Dickonson U. Press, 1996.
Killian, Lewis. White Southerners. New York: Random House, 1970
Kulinksi, James H. and Cobb, Michael D. ―When White Southerners Converse About Race‖
in Jon Hurwitz and Mark Peffley ed., Perception and Prejudice: Race and Politics in the
United States. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998. 35-57.
Lamis, Alexander ―The Future of Southern Politics: New Directions for Dixie‖ in Joe P. Dunn
and Lawrence Preston, ed., The Future South: A Historical Perspective for the Twenty-first
Century (U. of Illinois Press, 1991), 61-62.
Lipman, Don. ―Hurricane Camille: She Was No Lady!‖ Washington Post, 17 August, 2009.
Morris, Willie and David Rae. My Mississippi. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi,
2000.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association. ―Hurricane History.‖
Phillips, Kevin. The Emerging Republican Majority. Arlington House, 1969.
Roger, V. Cullum.―Beth Heley: Signature of a Non-stop Playwright.‖ Backstage, 24 March
1995, 23.
USA Today Weather Editorial Team. ―A Look Back at Hurricane Camille.‖ USA Today, 3
May, 2005.
Yates, Gayle Graham. Mississippi Mind. Knoxville: The University of Tennessee Press,
1990.
Educators
Core Curriculum Standards
According to the NJ Department of Education, ―experience with and knowledge of the arts is
a vital part of a complete education.‖ Our production of Crimes of the Heart and the activities
outlined in this guide are designed to enrich your students‘ education by addressing the
following specific Core Curriculum Content Standards for Visual and Performing Arts:
1.1
The Creative Process: All students will demonstrate an understanding of the elements and
principles that govern the creation of works of art in dance, music, theatre, and visual art.
1.2
History of the Arts and Culture: All students will understand the role, development, and influence
of the arts throughout history and across cultures.
1.3
Performance: All students will synthesize those skills, media, methods, and technologies
appropriate to creating, performing, and/or presenting works of art in dance, music, theatre, and
visual art.
1.4
Aesthetic Responses & Critique Methodologies: All students will demonstrate and apply an
understanding of arts philosophies, judgment, and analysis to works of art in dance, music, theatre,
and visual art.
Viewing Crimes of the Heart and then participating in the pre- and post-show discussions
and activities suggested in this audience guide will also address the following Core
Curriculum Content Standards in Language Arts Literacy:
3.1
Reading: All students will understand and apply the knowledge of sounds, letters, and words in
written English to become independent and fluent readers, and will read a variety of materials and
texts with fluency and comprehension.
3.2
Writing: All students will write in clear, concise, organized language that varies in content and
form for different audiences and purposes.
3.3
Speaking: All students will speak in clear, concise, organized language that varies in content and
form for different audiences and purposes.
3.4
Listening: All students will listen actively to information from a variety of sources in a variety of
situations.
3.5
Viewing and Media Literacy: All students will access, view, evaluate, and respond to print, nonprint, and electronic texts and resources.
In addition, the production of Crimes of the Heart as well as the audience guide activities will
help to fulfill the following Social Studies Core Curriculum Standards:
6.1
U.S. History—America in the World: All students will acquire the knowledge and skills to think
analytically about how past and present interactions of people, cultures, and the environment shape
the American heritage. Such knowledge and skills enable students to make informed decisions that
reflect fundamental rights and core democratic values as productive citizens in local, national, and
global communities.
Pre-Show Preparation, Questions for Discussion, and Activities
Note to Educators: Use the following assignments, questions, and activities to introduce
your students to Crimes of the Heart and its intellectual and artistic origins, context, and
themes, as well as to engage their imaginations and creativity before they see the
production.
1. Crimes of the Heart: Web Site Basics. Share the various interviews, articles and
information found on McCarter's Crimes of the Heart web site with your students—
preferably by reading them aloud as a class or in small groups—to provide an
intellectual and creative context for McCarter Theatre‘s production of Beth Henley‘s
Pulitzer Prize-winning play.
2. Exploring Crimes of the Heart Before the Performance. Beth Henley‘s Crimes of the
Heart was the playwright‘s first full-length play, which amazingly won both the New York
Drama Critics‘ Circle Award and the Pulitzer Prize in 1981, and stands as a classic of
American drama today. It features Henley‘s own distinctive brand of Southern Gothic
screwball comedy, and portrays three sisters trapped in small-town life and lies and
faced with super-sized family crises, which they contend with both ridiculously and
touchingly.
The activities and questions for discussion immediately below are designed for teachers
able to incorporate either the full or Act One reading of Crimes of the Heart into their preperformance curriculum.
A. Have your students read the full text or Act One of Crimes of the Heart (preferably
aloud as a class).
B. After the reading, ask your students to discuss the given circumstances of the play
(i.e., the facts of the world of the play, including the specific conditions of place and
time, the characters and their relationships to one another, all detectable information
in their back-stories, and any details of what has happened before the action of the
play has begun). Also, ask your students what each character‘s action (what the
character wants either consciously or subconsciously) and motivation (the reason
why he or she wants what he or she wants) is. And finally, talk about the conflicts
(those persons or things that stand in the way of the character getting what he wants)
the characters face in pursuit of their actions.
C. Then have students brainstorm a list of themes central to the play. [These might
include: homecoming; sibling rivalry and familial discord; the burden of secrets and
family history; the taboo of suicide/mental illness; kinship and consolation through
the family bond; individual choice and freedom in the face of familial and social
expectations; the oppression of gender/social roles and acts of female assertion and
rebellion; loneliness and the varying layers and causes of heart break; the insularity
and suffocative nature of small-town life, etc.] Ask your students to recall and make
connections to their own lives, someone else‘s life, or to other plays or works of
literature they have read or studied with themes similar to those of Crimes of the
Heart.
D. If students read only the first act of the play, ask them what they think will happen in
the second and third acts of Crimes of the Heart.
3. In Context: Crimes of the Heart, Playwright Beth Henley, and This Production. To
prepare your students for Crimes of the Heart and to deepen their level of understanding
of and appreciation for the play and its context, the dramatic individuality and distinctive
voice of Beth Henley, and to introduce them to McCarter‘s production team, have
students research, either in groups or individually, the following topics:
o
Beth Henley
o
Crimes of the Heart (overview)
o
Production history of Crimes of the Heart
o
Pulitzer Prize (general) for Drama (specific)
o
Dark Comedy
o
Southern Gothic
o
Kitchen sink drama
o
Hazlehurst, Mississippi
o
Hurricane Camille
o
Historical and cultural events in Mississippi in the early 1970s
o
Other plays by Beth Henley

The Miss Firecracker Contest

Am I Blue

Ridiculous Fraud
o
Anton Chekhov‘s play Three Sisters (and Crimes of the Heart comparison)
o
Liesl Tommy (director)
o
Andromache Chalfant (set designer)
o
Marion Williams (costume designer) and Ann G. Wrightson (lighting designer)
Have students teach one another about their individual or group topics via oral and
illustrated (i.e., posters or PowerPoint) reports. Following the presentations ask your
students to reflect upon their research process and discoveries.
4. Scene Study: Acting from the Heart . To prepare their minds, ears, and funny bones
for the pleasures and challenges of Beth Henley‘s idiosyncratic brand of dark comedy,
have your students study an excerpt from a scene from Crimes of the Heart. We
suggest the following ―French scenes‖/dramatic interactions from the play, which can be
found in either the Penguin Plays (1982) or the Dramatists Play Service reprint (1998)
edition:
#1
Opening moment of the play between Lenny and Chick, beginning at the top
of the play, page 3 (Penguin) or 5 (Dramatists), and ending with Chick‘s line,
―…That‘s just the way I was brought up to be,‖ on page 8.
#2
Opening moment of Act II, between Babe and Barnette, beginning at the top of
the act, page 55 (Penguin) or 34 (Dramatists), through Barnettes‘s line on
page 59 (P) or 36 (D), ―All right, Becky.‖
Interaction between Lenny, Meg, and Babe in Act III, at Lenny‘s entrance on
page 121 (Penguin) or 70 (Dramatists), to the end of the play.
#3
o
First, if you haven‘t already, share the articles and interviews included in the
McCarter Crimes of the Heart web site Audience Resource Guide with your
students.
o
Then, read the excerpted ―scenes‖ together as a class for comprehension
(reading in the round and alternating lines will give each student a chance to
try out the speech and voices of different characters). Some words, phrases,
or slang may need to be defined.
o
Next, break your class up into scene-study duos or trios. Groups of two
should work on scene #1 (Lenny and Chick) or #2 (Babe and Barnette) and
groups of three on scene #3 (Lenny, Meg, and Babe). [Please encourage your
male students not to shy away from the female roles. Remind them that all the
female roles in Shakespeare‘s plays during Elizabethan times were played by
male actors, and encourage them to approach their scene study assignments
with truthfulness and authenticity, as opposed to caricature and stereotype.]
o
Scene-study groups should read their scene aloud once together before
getting up to stage it, to get a sense of the characters and the scene overall.
o
Student-actors should prepare/rehearse their scene for a script-in-hand
performance for the class.
o
Following scene performances, lead students in a discussion of their
experience rehearsing and performing. Questions might include:
o
What are the pleasures and challenges of performing a scene from
Beth Henley‘s Crimes of the Heart?
o
What insights, if any, regarding the play or the characters did you get
from staging the play and playing the characters?
o
What about your character felt real to you in the acting of him or her?
o
Was there any moment that felt strange or awkward in bringing your
character to life?
5. Everything and the Kitchen Sink: Designing Crimes of the Heart with Andromache
Chalfant. When one picks up the script of Crimes of the Heart, playwright Beth Henley
welcomes the reader into the world of her play, thusly:
The Setting
The setting of the entire play is the kitchen in the MaGrath sister’s house in
Hazlehurst, Mississippi, a small Southern town. The old-fashioned kitchen is
unusually spacious, but there is a lived-in, cluttered look about it. There are four
different entrances and exits to the kitchen: the back door, the door leading to
the dining room and the front of the house, a door leading to the downstairs
bedroom, and as staircase leading to the upstairs room. There is a table near
the center of the room, and a cot has been set up in one of the corners.
The Time
In the fall, five years after Hurricane Camille
When the reader is a set designer, such as Andromach Chalfant, the creative juices begin to
flow:
Setting the whole play in a kitchen is great because it’s a central recognizable element.
But it creates a challenge to fill the stage believably…. The MaGrath kitchen has layers of
history from the 1940s through the 1970s. So I’ve been thinking about what the bottom
layer of history is in the MaGrath kitchen. Under any updates, like new appliances or
remodeled floors, what is the underlying structure? What has this family been building
on for the last 30 years?
Have your students consider—both intellectually and artistically—the ―kitchen sink drama‖ of
Crimes of the Heart from the visual perspective of designer Andromache Chalfant.
o
Compare and contrast speaking or hearing the text aloud rather than silently
reading. What do you notice about Henley‘s dialogue?
o
Begin by studying, as a class, Andromache Chalfant’s design portfolio and
read more about her thoughts on designing Crimes of the Heart in ―Spotlight on
the Set‖ found on this web site. Ask students to consider and make observations
on Chalfant‘s designs and her use of line, mass/shape, texture, and color.
o
o
Next, have students research the following terms/topics:

―Kitchen sink drama‖

Hazlehurst, Mississippi

1940‘s kitchens (including images)
If possible, have students read Crimes of the Heart from a ―designer‘s point of
view,‖ taking into special account the world of the play which the MaGrath sisters
inhabit from a specifically visual/physical perspective.
o
Then with all of their above research completed, ask students to create a set
design rendering (or full color illustration) for Crimes of the Heart.
o
Renderings may be created in whatever medium the students feel is appropriate
to create the atmosphere and tone of the play. Popular mediums include acrylics,
color pencil, collage, markers and computer art programs.
o
Students should be given time to show their finished Crimes of the Heart
renderings to the class, and they should explain their choices and process.
Post-Show Questions for Discussion and Activities
Note to Educators: Use the following assignments, questions, and activities to have students
evaluate their experience of the performance of Crimes of the Heart, as well as to
encourage their own imaginative and artistic projects through further exploratio n of the play
in production. Consider also that some of the pre-show activities might enhance your
students’ experience following the performance.
1. Crimes of the Heart: Performance Reflection and Discussion. Following their
attendance at the performance of Crimes of the Heart, ask your students to reflect on the
questions below. You might choose to have them answer each individually or you may
divide students into groups for round-table discussions. Have them consider each
question, record their answers and then share their responses with the rest of the class.
Questions to Ask Your Students About the Play in Production
a. What was your overall reaction to Beth Henley‘s Crimes of the Heart? Did you
find the production compelling? Stimulating? Intriguing? Challenging?
Memorable? Confusing? Evocative? Unique? Delightful? Meaningful? Explain
your reactions.
b. Did experiencing the play heighten your awareness or understanding of the play‘s
themes? [e.g., Homecoming; sibling rivalry and familial discord; the burden of
secrets and family history; the taboo of suicide/mental illness; kinship and
consolation through the family bond; individual choice and freedom in the face of
familial and social expectations; the oppression of gender/social roles and ac ts of
female assertion and rebellion; loneliness and the varying layers and causes of
heart break; the insularity and suffocative nature of small-town life, etc.] What
themes were made even more apparent or especially provocative in
production/performance? Explain your responses.
c. Is there a moment in the play that specifically resonated with you either
intellectually or emotionally? Which moment was it and why do you think it
affected you?
d. Do you think that the pace and tempo of the production were effective and
appropriate? Explain your opinion.
Questions to Ask Your Students About the Characters
a. Did you personally identify with either of the characters in Crimes of the Heart?
Who? Why? If no, why not?
b. What character did you find most interesting or engaging? Why were you
intrigued or attracted to this particular character?
c. What qualities of character were revealed by the action and speech of Lenny,
Meg, Babe, Doc, Barnette, and Chick? Explain your ideas.
d. Did either character develop or undergo a transformation during the course of the
play? Who? How? Why?
e. In what ways did the characters reveal the themes of the play? Explain your
responses.
Questions to Ask Your Students About the Style and Design of the Production
a. Was there a moment in Crimes of the Heart that was so compelling, intriguing, or
engaging that it remains with you in your mind‘s eye? Write a vivid description of
that moment. As you write your description, pretend that you are writing about
the moment for someone who was unable to experience the performance.
b. Did the style and design elements of the production, unified under the directorial
vision of Liesl Tommy enhance the performance? Did anything specifically stand
out to you? Explain your reactions.
c. Did the overall production style and design reflect the central themes of the story
of Crimes of the Heart? Explain your response.
d. What did you notice about Andromache Chalfant‘s set design? Did it provide an
appropriate and/or evocative setting/location for Crimes of the Heart? How and
why, or why not?
e. What mood or atmosphere did Ann G. Wrightson‘s lighting design establish or
achieve? Explain your experience.
f.
What did you notice about the costumes designed by Marion Williams and worn
by the actors? What do you think were the artistic and practical decisions that
went into the conception of the costumes?
g. How did the Karin Graybash‘s sound design enhance your overall experience?
2. Additional Post-Show Questions and Discussion Points for Crimes of the Heart.
Southern Stamp
Throughout Crimes of the Heart we find or hear stories of Henley‘s characters engaging
in common activities such as eating ice cream or looking through an illustrated medical
book. However, it is the juxtaposition of these two things that makes the actions of the
characters slightly disturbing or downright bizarre. Henley‘s quirky, signature
combinations give us insight into her characters, their small town life, and the
playwright‘s Southern Gothic sensibility. Share the following quote by Janice Paran from
―What is Southern Gothic?‖with your students, and use the questions below to spark a
dialogue on this distinctive writing style.
These days “Southern Gothic” encompasses all manner of lurid, mysterious,
otherworldly or merely eccentric goings-on in Southern fiction, and while
scholars, critics and the writers themselves variously dissect, debate or
dismiss the tag, many would agree with Carson McCullers’ observation that
Southern writers frequently juxtapose “the tragic with the humorous, the
immense with the trivial, the sacred with the bawdy, the whole soul of man
with a materialistic detail.”…Henley’s plays routinely locate the glorious
histrionic streak that courses through calamity.”
o
What specific instances where Henley uses the juxtaposition of two
contrasting things or behaviors (e.g., ―the tragic with the humorous,‖ the
immense with the trivial‖) stand out in your memory from the performance?
Distinguish why it spoke strongly to you. Share and discuss.
o
Cite an example in which Henley employs eccentric, lurid, or mysterious
juxtapositions as a coping mechanism for a character.
o
What judgments, if any, do you make about the characters based on their
actions? Can you analyze their motives or reasons why they do the often
bizarre or fantastic things they do?
o
Relate the ―Southern Gothic‖ style to other plays, works of literature and
art that you have studied. Consider what the artist or writer is trying to
convey to his or her audience through the portrayal of such grotesque,
eccentric, macabre, or otherworldly characterizations or events/incidents.
An Extraordinary Moment, Transformation, and Crimes of the Heart
Typically plays focus on an extraordinary moment in the life of a character when she or
he is unexpectedly confronted by someone or something and is forced to react/respond,
or when he or she suddenly decides to act upon a strong desire and need and faces
obstacles that stand in the way. Typically a play ends after a character involved in the
confrontation/conflict is transformed, experiences a change of heart, and/or comes to
some new understanding about him- or herself, about the world around him or her, or
about human existence itself.
Ask your students to consider Crimes of Heart in terms of the above thoughts on drama
and in terms of the questions below:
o
What extraordinary moment or circumstance in the lives of the MaGrath
sisters sets the plot of Crimes of the Heart in motion?
o
Who do you think is the protagonist of Crimes of the Heart? (See if they
can debate their way to identifying Lenny, Meg, and Babe as a ―group
protagonist‖ on their own.)
o
Is Crimes of the Heart the sort of play in which the protagonist is
confronted by someone or something and must react/respond, or is it a
play in which the protagonist acts upon a strong desire or need? Or is it
both? Explain your answer.
o
What strong desires, needs or wants do Lenny, Meg and Beth express in
the course of the play, and what obstacles stand in the way of them
pursing or fulfilling those desires, needs or wants?
o
At the end of Crimes of the Heart, do you think that any of the characters
have been changed or transformed by confrontation or the conflict they
have gone through? Who has been changed? What was the character
like at the play‘s beginning and what is s/he like when the lights fade on
the final moment? What from the action of the play accounts for her or his
transformation?
o
Do you think the relationship of the sisters has been altered? For the
better? For the worse? What will the next year look like for the MaGrath
sisters of Hazlehurst?
3. Eulogizing Old Granddaddy… à la Beth Henley. Crimes of the Heart ends with a
celebration of Lenny‘s birthday with a big gooey birthday cake, yet—and in true Southern
Gothic fashion—it seems likely that this happy and renewing ritual will be followed by
moribund Old Granddaddy‘s last rites and funeral. Have your students embrace the
world and style of Beth Henley and adopt the character, voice, attitude, and back story of
one of the MaGrath sisters to write a eulogy for Old Granddaddy.
o
To prepare your students to write a eulogy, ask them to share their
experiences with the form of address/speech. Then have students research
eulogies and tips for writing them.
o
Once students have chosen the character from whose point of view they are
interested in writing, ask them to consider what that character‘s relationship
was like with Old Granddaddy—the good and the bad. Ask them also to
consider what Lenny, Meg, or Babe would want to say about Old Granddaddy
or to Old Granddaddy himself.
o
Although students should feel free to explore any and every avenue of their
character‘s biography and her relationship with Old Granddaddy to write their
eulogies, one thing that must be included in their speech is at least one
occurence of homage to the Southern Gothic stamp (as explored in the
discussion points above and in Janice Paran‘s short web article ―What is
Southern Gothic?‖
o
Students‘ eulogies may be read aloud for the class—in character, of course!—
and discussed. Ask students to consider what they find fitting interesting,
compelling, unique, meaningful, etc., about each eulogy. Also ask students to
elaborate on their intentions and process.
4. Crimes of the Heart: The Review. Have your students take on the role of theater critic
by writing a review of the McCarter Theatre production of Crimes of the Heart. A theater
critic or reviewer is essentially a ―professional audience member,‖ whose job is to
provide reportage of a play‘s production and performance through active and descriptive
language for a target audience of readers (e.g., their peers, their community, or those
interested in the arts). Critics/reviewers analyze the theatrical event to provide a clearer
understanding of the artistic ambitions and intentions of a play and its production;
reviewers often ask themselves, ―What is the playwright and this production attempting
to do?‖ Finally, the critic offers personal judgment as to whether the artistic intentions of
a production were achieved, effective, and worthwhile. Things to consider before
writing:
o
Theater critics/reviewers should always back up their opinions with reasons,
evidence, and details.
o
The elements of production that can be discussed in a theatrical r eview are
the play text or script (and its themes, plot, characters, etc.), scenic elements,
costumes, lighting, sound, music, acting and direction (i.e., how all of these
elements are put together). [See the Theater Reviewer’s Checklist.]
o
Educators may want to provide their students with sample theater reviews
from a variety of newspapers.
o
Encourage your students to submit their reviews to the school newspaper for
publication.
Credits
Editors:
Carrie Hughes, Adam Immerwahr, Erica Nagel
Contributors:
Paula Alekson, Lauren Durdach, Carrie Hughes, Emilia LaPenta, Erica Nagel, Janice Paran
Web Design: Dimple Parmar
2010-2011 Theatre Season sponsored by