The director of Crimes of the Heart said the production is a “fine balance walking that line” between the comedy and tragedy in the play.
Paul Bolin, an instructor of the department of Visual and Performing Arts, selected the play because it was in keeping with the theme of family.
Crimes of the Heart is a tragic comedy that centers on three sisters: Lenore, who is portrayed by Rachel Chinn; Meg, played by Mionne Featherstone; and Babe, played by Ashia Allen.
Lenore is a newly turned 30-year-old who hadn’t gotten a chance to live life since she had taken on the job of taking care of their grandfather.
Their grandfather, however, has been in the hospital for a while and not doing well.
Meg, the middle sister, is a 27-year-old out-of-work singer who finally decided to come home. Meanwhile, she rekindles her romance with an old friend, Doc Porter (Jaren Stringer) who is now married with two children.
Babe, 24, the youngest, is out on bail for shooting her husband, Zachary Botrelle (KaDarius Gray) in the stomach.
Barnette Lloyd (Brenton Douglas) is the lawyer she’s working with and they eventually become fond of each other.
Babe later admits her reason for shooting her husband.
Zachary had found her with a young boy named Willie Jay, played by Ibraheem Farmer.
Come to find out Zachary was also abusing her.
She claimed she was aiming for his heart, but was so nervous she only got his stomach.
“The theme of the year is family and family dynamics,” said Bolin.
He said that he wanted to go with the family theme, but had a difficult time finding a play that met that criteria.
“Professor Crook in the Theater Department mentioned Crimes of the Heart,” said Bolin, “[I] thought about, read the story again, and I really was compelled by the heart of it.”
Bolin also said that one of his biggest challenges of putting on this production was serving the comedy. He described it as a “fine balance walking that line.”
Thirty-plus aspiring actresses showed up for the auditions for this production, according to Bolin, which made choosing his cast members difficult.
The Crimes of the Heart cast will perform tonight and Friday 7 p.m. in the Floyd L. Sandle Theatre in the Performing Arts Center. Tickets are $3 for students and $5 for general admission.