Thursday, September 02, 2010

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5/6/2010 - West Side Leader
     

By David Ritchey

From left, Diane Mull, Constance Thackaberry and Jen Walker star in Actors’ Summit Theater’s production of “Crimes of the Heart.”

Photo courtesy of Actors’ Summit Theater

HUDSON — Actors’ Summit Theater’s production of “Crimes of the Heart” is one of the most interesting plays to stop traffic in American theaters in a long time. It is on stage through May 16.

Playwright Beth Henley received the Pulitzer Prize for the comedy in 1981.

The story takes place in Hazelhurst, Miss., in 1975. In a strong Southern tradition, the action takes place in the family kitchen.

Arthur Miller wrote that any good play is about how the chickens come home to roost. That’s what happens in “Crimes of the Heart.”

Lenny Magrath (Diane Mull) lives in the family home, which is owned by her grandfather. Lenny has the potential to be an old maid. Her sister Meg Magrath (Constance Thackaberry) left Mississippi to move to Hollywood and become a singing star. In truth, Meg’s career seems to have peaked in a Hazelhurst saloon.

The third sister, Babe Botrelle (Jennifer Walker), has been arrested for shooting her husband in the stomach. She aimed at his heart and missed. He is a wealthy state senator and they seem to be the social elite of Hazelhurst. Their cousin, Chick Boyle (Mary Mahoney), is the fourth of the granddad’s grandchildren.

These four women make gossip their pleasure and their pain. Gossip is pleasure when it’s about someone else; pain when it’s about oneself. The four of them seem to be trashy, even if they live in a middle-class house.

However, when the three sisters get together, they create a charming, warm (sometimes hot) affection for each other. In the final scene, Lenny blows out her birthday candles and comments her birthday wish wasn’t so much a wish as an image of the three sisters always together. They laugh and hug. They have no one else in the world but themselves. Husbands, boyfriends, children and failed careers will not come between the three.

Director MaryJo Alexander has helped each actor develop distinct characters, yet the cast works together as an ensemble. Somehow, Southern characters, especially women, seem to merge into accent and Southern clichés. Alexander doesn’t let those problems creep into this production.

The four actresses do an excellent job peeling away the layers of Southern gentility, even when it includes an attempted murder.

The men in their lives help make the mixture all the more spicy. Doc Porter (Peter Voinovich) had a flirtation with Meg when they were in high school. Now, years later, he’s married and has children, and the flirtation starts again when Meg returns to Hazelhurst.

Barnette Lloyd (Keith Stevens) is a young, inexperienced attorney who will defend Babe in her trial for attempted murder. The sexual tension between Babe and her attorney sizzles on the small Actors’ Summit stage. Stevens usually plays confident men, but as the attorney, he loses some of his macho style and becomes a shy, stuttering lover.

But as far as the Magrath women are concerned, men might come and men might go, but no one will divide the Magrath sisters.

“Crimes of the Heart” is perfect theater fare for these hot and cold spring nights. Actors’ Summit is located in Hudson at this time. By the end of the month, theater officials plan to announce a new location. For ticket information, call 330-342-0800.

David Ritchey has a Ph.D. in communications and is a professor of communications at The University of Akron. He is a member of the American Theatre Critics Association.

     

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