April 18, 2014

Drexel University’s Co-Op Theatre Company will present an irreverent tragicomedy centered on the plight of three young Mississippi sisters. Crimes of the Heart opens Thursday, May 8 at 8:00 pm in Westphal College’s URBN Center Annex Black Box Theater (3401 Filbert St), with additional performances on May 9, 10, 15, 16, and 17 at 8:00 pm, and May 11 at 2:00 pm. Click here to purchase tickets, which are $15 for General Admission and $10 for the Drexel community with valid ID. 

Directed by Theatre Program director Nick Anselmo, Crimes of the Heart is a Pulitzer Prize-winning play written by Beth Henley. The eccentric and tender story follows the MaGrath sisters: Meg, who returns to Mississippi after failing to become a singing star in Los Angeles; Lenny, a 30-year-old wallflower who laments her diminishing marriage prospects; and Babe, who is out on bail after shooting her husband. “The play has three great roles for strong women and we have terrific female actors in the theatre program,” said Anselmo. As the dysfunctional trio deals with the latest catastrophes in lives of hardship, they attempt to escape the past while facing its consequences, in a story that Anselmo characterizes as “just as funny as it is sad.”

“While one of the missions of the Co-Op Theatre is to re-imagine great works for today’s audiences, there was nothing I wanted to change about this play. It invites the audience directly into the MaGrath household and we’ve been able to create that feeling in the intimate Black Box Theater,” said Anselmo. Audience members will enter the theater—the MaGrath kitchen—through the same door actors use to enter the stage, affording them the chance to closely ‘eavesdrop’ on the trials and tribulations of this wacky family.

Drexel Players is a resident student-run, co-op theater company that provides hands-on experience in running a company at a professional caliber while working in key production positions. Click here to learn more.