“Crimes Of The Heart:” A Tragic-Comedy at Antrim Playhouse

BY GEORGE J. DACRE

Three “good ol’ girl” sisters- Lenny, Meg and Babe Magrath reunite at their Ole Granddaddys home in Hazelhurst, Mississippi and do they have a time. Seems Babe has shot her abusive husband, Meg is in between men and Lenny is trying to get up her nerve to call Charley. “Crimes,” a 1981 Pulitzer Prize for Drama winner is well done by the Antrim Players and Dara Richter as Lenny, Dianna Angelli as Meg and Theresa Lyons as Babe are really great and funny actresses playing off each other and the cast in this three-actor that has never a dull moment.

The three sisters were raised in a dysfunctional family and all have a penchant for ugly disagreements and all come up in the reunion of the trio in which they are forced to face the consequences of their crimes of the heart. Somehow they work it all out and although Babe faces a possible murder charge and her attorney Barnette Lloyd (played by Michael Gravina) somehow is able to take care of some provoking pictures taken of Babe in compromising situations.

To give you an idea, Babe, after telling Lloyd she shot her husband and then made and drank some lemonade, is part of the script. Denise MacClean, as Chick Boyle, a friend of the family and Joe Watts as Doc Porter round out the cast in this intriguing production which plays at Antrim Playhouse in Wesley Hills weekends through February 5.

Written by Beth Henley and directed by Joe DeSpirito and produced by Penny Buccafuri and Doreen DiBenedetto. “Crimes Of The Heart” rates Three out of Four Stars, Contact antrimplayhouse.com.