Review: CRIMES OF THE HEART Continues at the Kansas City Actors Theatre

Crimes of the Heart the Kansas City Actors Theatre production of the tragic comedy classic continues at the Polsky Theatre in the Carlsen Center at the Johnson County Community College. Darren Sextro directs Crimes of the Heart written by Beth Henley. Edward Matthew Walter designs the realistic set and Georgianna Londre Buchanan provides costume design.

Sextro served for five years on the board of the Kansas City Actors Theatre, making his directing debut with the Pulitzer Prize winning play. Sextro transports the humorous character studies from the original 1974 setting to 1980 Hazlehurst, Mississippi.

Crimes of the Heart made its stage debut as a co-winner of the Actor's Theatre of Louisville Great American Play Contest in 1979. After 13 previews, the play opened on Broadway, running for 535 performances. Crimes of the Heart won the 1981 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the 1981 New York Drama Critic's Circle Award for Best American Play.

It is hard to determine which of the Magrath sisters are having the worse day in October of 1980. Lenny the oldest of the siblings still lives in the house where the sisters grew up. She is a 30 something spinster who takes care of her granddaddy who is in the hospital. It is her birthday, which no one seemed to remember and her horse was struck dead by lightning. Meg, the middle of the Magrath sisters, returns from Hollywood where she had tried to make it big as a singer. Instead, she found despair and rejection leading to a nervous breakdown. Maybe the winner of the worse day is Babe, the youngest sister married to a bully of a husband, who she had shot that morning.

Melinda McCrary is very good as the eldest sister, Lenny. Her despair is emphasized from the opening curtain as she sits alone trying to light a candle she has placed on a cookie to celebrate her birthday. She has previously appeared with the Kansas City Actors Theatre in The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds, Picnic, and The Real Inspector Hound among others.

Manon Halliburton amazingly brings Meg, the bad girl from Hollywood to life with enthusiasm and confidence. Her performance helps to put the dysfunctional into family. She last appeared at the Actors Theatre in Good People a co-production with the Unicorn Theatre. She is a frequent performer at Kansas City theaters including the Unicorn Theatre, The Coterie, and The Metropolitan Ensemble Theatre among others.

Cinnamon Schultz is hilarious in the role of Babe, the sister involved with an African-American teenager, who shot her husband without regard to the consequences. Schultz has appeared at the Actors Theatre in Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead, Boston Marriage, and Absurd Person Singular among others. She has performed with the Kansas City Repertory Theatre, The Coterie, and Heart of America Shakespeare Festival.

Jan Rogge gives a good performance as Chick, the cousin of the sisters who delights in delivering bad news. David Fritts plays Doc and Coleman Crenshaw takes on the role of Barnette, the attorney hired to defend Babe.

The true crime would be to miss this extraordinary cast in Crimes of the Heart. Crimes of the Heart continues at the Polsky Theatre through Sunday March 8. Purchase tickets online at the Kansas City Actor's Theatre website. Photo courtesy of Kansas City Actors Theatre.

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