Crimes of the Heart, which won the 1981 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Play, will be performed by the East Central University Theatre Department, Jan. 25-27, at 7:30 p.m. in the Chalmers Herman Theatre of the Hallie Brown Ford Fine Arts Center.
The production is being directed by ECU student Margie Beck, of Ada, as a senior project. Beck is a native of Redlands, California and has lived in Ada for nine years. She has lived in Oklahoma since 1992
“It was the first play I ever read when I was 14 years old and it began my love for theatre,” Beck said. “I fell in love with the characters, watching the film that was made from the play in 1986.”
Crimes of the Heart, by American playwright Beth Henley, is set in the small town of Hazlehurt, Mississippi, where sisters Lenny, Meg and Babe Magrath have gathered at old Granddaddy’s home during the aftermath of Babe shooting her abusive husband.
Their nosey and judgmental cousin Chick and young lawyer Barnette Lloyd assist in Babe’s impending future as Meg’s first love and the town’s neighborly good Samaritan Doc Porter add to the drama. Laughs and tears surround the tragedy and past secrets are surfaced as this small group deals with their individual crimes of the heart.
Annabelle Elliot, of Ada, stars as Babe. Shelby Davis, also of Ada, plays Meg and Beck will appear as Lenny. Leah Whiten, of Davis, will play the role of Chick; Logan Bennett, of Madill, plays Doc and Sam McKenzie, of Lindsay, appears as Barnette.
DeeDee Pennington and Mar Miller will serve as stage managers. Keyshawn Brown is sound and music director and Ashleigh Harrell will be lighting manager
Tickets are $10 for adults, $9 for senior citizens and non-ECU students, $7 for grades 7-12 and $5 for children 12 and under. ECU alumni receive a $1 discount. Admission is free for ECU students, faculty and staff.
For tickets, contact the Box Office through email at boxoffice@ecok.edu or by calling 580-559-5751. Tickets may be ordered online as well as ecok.edu/FineArts.
Beck holds a bachelor’s degree in business management and is completing another bachelor’s degree in communication/theatre focus before she starts graduate studies in secondary education/theatre in the fall of 2018.
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