'Crimes Of The Heart'
Greenwood LITTLE THEATRE is returning to center stage.
The community theater group will present its first production in almost two years at its new spacious venue — Davis Elementary School’s auditorium, near downtown Greenwood.
The 2021-22 season will kick off with an award-winning “dramedy.”
“Crimes of the Heart” will be presented at 7 p.m. Thursday and Friday and 2 p.m. next Saturday and Sunday. Forrest Hodge is directing the GLT production.
“We’re intending to come in and start off with what I hope will be a hit,” said Hodge. “We’ve got some new people on stage and some veteran people.”
The play was written by Mississippi native Beth Henley and won the 1981 Pulitzer Prize and New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award. “Crimes of the Heart” was nominated for the Tony Award for best play.
In 1986, the play was novelized and released as a book, written by Claudia Reilly, and a film adaptation was created starring Jessica Lange, Diane Keaton, and Sissy Spacek. The film received an Academy Award nomination, and Henley was nominated for best-adapted screenplay.
“I first saw it at New Stage in Jackson in 2015 and fell in love with it,” Hodge said about “Crimes of the Heart.” “Then, during quarantine, I saw the movie on Amazon Prime, and I fell in love with it again.”
When Hodge was hunting for a play to direct this season, he said he was looking for a show with a small cast and also one that meant something to him.
“This one kind of fell in my lap,” he said, “so I think it was serendipitous, and it was meant to be.”
“Crimes of the Heart” is set in Hazlehurst. The three Magrath sisters — Lenny, Meg, and Babe — have returned to the small Mississippi town because their grandfather, the family patriarch, is in the hospital and doesn’t have long to live. Each sister is also struggling with her hardships.
“All three of them have demons they are trying to deal with in their own way,” said Hodge. “There’s a vein that runs in and connects them.”
The play “follows the three of those daughters as they navigate their own ‘Crimes of the Heart,’” he said.
Hodge said there is tension among the sisters, but they also help each other navigate what they are each going through.
“I feel like by the end of the play they do bond,” he added.
The show has a theme of mental illness. After seeing the play, “I hope that it opens people’s minds a little bit,” he said. “Mental health is a cause that is close to my heart, and that’s one of the reasons I picked the show.”
With a new play after a long hiatus and a new location, it almost feels like a rebirth for Greenwood LITTLE THEATRE, Hodge said.
“It’s the inaugural show of the season and the first show at our new home in Davis auditorium, so it’s an exciting time,” he said. “It’s been very interesting forging ahead in sort of uncharted territory, but it’s been very rewarding. I’ve enjoyed doing it, because it’s kept me on my toes.”
GLT halted GLT productions after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. The last play to be performed was “Annie” in December 2019.
No shows were scheduled for a 2020-21 season because of the pandemic and structural issues at GLT’s longtime venue, the W.M. Whittington Jr. Playhouse on Sycamore Avenue. Greenwood LITTLE THEATRE has held one recent performance, a teaser to the upcoming season. The musical fundraiser, “A Million Dollar Evening,” was performed at The Historic Elks Building in September.
The LITTLE THEATRE celebrated a partnership last month with the Greenwood Leflore Consolidated School District and Mississippi Valley State University that allows the use of the Davis auditorium for productions and performances by GLT and MVSU.
“We’re happy to be here,” said Hodge. “It’s a great space. It’s a fantastic stage. There’s a lot of room.”
Greenwood LITTLE THEATRE is now no longer limited in space. Its previous venue seated 200 people—the Davis auditorium seats about 1,200.
“If you buy a ticket, it’s general admission, so we’re not selling assigned seats,” Hodge said. “You can spread out as much as you want. There’s plenty of room to socially distance.”
With the new location, GLT members are hoping to gain new theatergoers.
“We want to reach a broader audience and get people out here who have never seen theater or have never been involved in the theater — bring the arts to Greenwood,” said Hodge.
For tickets, call 662-219-3822 or send an email to ticketing@greenwoodlittletheatre.com.
- Contact Ruthie Robison at 581-7235 or rrobison@gwcommonwealth.com.