By Kirsten Mahon/multimedia/nw editor
Theatre Northwest will soon show Crimes of the Heart, a critically acclaimed play by Beth Henley.
The dramatic comedy will showcase at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 9-12 and at 2 p.m. Oct. 13. The show is free for TCC faculty and students, $6 for general admission and $3 for non-TCC students and seniors.
The story of three sisters in the late ’50s to early ’60s unfolds as tragedy upon tragedy unleashes. Beginning on the birthday of eldest sister, Lenny Magrath, the play takes a journey down a bumpy road of crime, love and misfortune when Lenny learns her horse was struck by lightning, and her sisters are returning home for a tumultuous reunion. Over the years leading up to the reunion, Lenny had stayed home to take care of their dying grandfather.
Middle sister Meg returns home from her worldly life to help her sister, Babe, who was recently found guilty of shooting her husband and has just been released from jail. Now the sisters have to find a way to keep Babe out of jail, but when they ask her why she shot him, she simply says, “I just didn’t like his looks.”
“Well, I’m sure there’re a hundred good reasons to shoot someone,” Meg says in response.
Meg’s baggage centers on her ex-husband, played by Joshua Jones, who has since remarried but is back in town looking after his dead father’s land while the sisters try to untangle Babe’s mess.
“There are precious moments that break out,” said Casey Magin who plays Lenny, the most responsible and motherly out of the three. Twins Makynzie and Sydney Davis play the younger sisters. The three student actresses found ways to build their characters by trying to understand the crimes of the heart their characters committed.
“It makes you think about your own relationships,” Magin said.
She drew connections to her character from being the eldest sibling in her own family.
A number of cast members agreed that the play is unique because it involves a lot of past action to understand the present.
“It turns on a dime,” said Jordan Woika, who plays Babe’s defense lawyer. “And then it turns again.”
Magin agreed.
“It’s jam-packed,” she said, beginning to laugh. “It goes from ‘Funny, I love you’ to ‘I wanna kill you.’”
