Ferrum College Theatre Arts Presents “Crimes of the Heart” April 24-26

Ferrum College Theatre Arts will present Beth Henley’s Crimes of the Heart April 24 – 26, at 7 p.m., in the Black Box Theatre in Schoolfield Hall’s on campus, 305 State Route 602, Ferrum. Entrance is free for Ferrum College students and faculty; $5 for non-Ferrum College students; and $10 for adults. Reserve tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/crimes-of-the-heart-tickets-59566495993. This production contains adult language and situations.

Set in Hazlehurst, Mississippi, three sisters, each with unique life circumstances including spinsterhood, a failed career, and the possibility of jail time, await their grandfather’s death in the local hospital. Through hilarious yet touching twists and turns, the sisters escape their pasts and make strides toward their futures. A New York Times review remarked: “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."

The play, which won the 1981 Pulitzer Prize and the New York Drama Critics Circle Award, has been described by the New York Post as having “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.”

Learn more about Ferrum College Theatre Arts here: http://www.ferrum.edu/artsandhumanities/theatre-arts/.
 

More about Beth Henley: Henley’s plays have been translated into over ten languages. Broadway productions include Crimes of the Heart and The Wake of Jamey Foster. Off-Broadway productions include: The Miss Firecracker Contest; Am I Blue; The Lucky Spot; The Debutante Ball; Abundance; Impossible Marriage; and Family Week. Her additional works have premiered at the McCarter Theatre and South Coast Repertory Theatre (Ridiculous Fraud); the Geffen Theatre (The Jacksonian, 2012); and Studio Theatre (Laugh, 2015). Awards include: the Pulitzer Prize in Drama and the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best American Play (Crimes of the Heart); American Theatre Wing 1998 Award for Distinguished Achievement in Playwriting and Susan Smith Blackburn Finalist (Crimes of the Heart and Ridiculous Fraud); Richard Wright Literary Excellence Award (2000); New York Stage and Film Honoree (2007); and ATHE Career Achievement Award (2010). Henley hails from Jackson, Mississippi; serves as a theatre arts presidential professor at Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles; and is a member of The Fellowship of Southern Writers, the Dramatist Guild and the Academy of Arts and Science.