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‘Crimes of the Heart'

• On stage: Beth Henley's 1981 Pulitzer Prize and New York Drama Critics Circle Award winning drama of the Magrath sisters and family, secrets, disappointment, and learning to truly love, at the Phoenix Theatre's Firdale Village Theatre, 9673 Firdale Ave., Edmonds. • Performances: 8 p.m. Fridays & Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays, through Nov. 29. • Tickets: $22.50 general, $18 students, seniors (65+), military, $15 T.P.S. members, available through brownpapertickets.com; more information by calling 206-533-2000 or www.thephenxtheatre.com.

CONTACT THE ENTERPRISE Jocelyn Robinson, News editor jrobinson@heraldnet.com

Tears of laughter, tears of grief

Phoenix Theater makes Pulitzer winning ‘Crimes of the Heart' real

By Dale Burrows
For The Enterprise

Their dad flew the coop and mom hung the cat, then herself. Where is the bright side?

By George, Phoenix finds it in this 1981 Pulitzer Prize-winning comedy by Beth Henley.

The place is Hazlehurst, Mississippi, 1970s or so. Three sisters living screwed up lives, thanks to the traumatizing loss of both parents when they were kids, reunite.

The occasion: the youngest sister (Kayti Barnett) is out on bail for shooting her husband. Why'd she shoot him? She didn't like his looks.

Think she overreacted?

How about the spinster sister (Heidi Jean Weinrich) hitting thirty who doesn't date because of a shrunken ovary?

Or the boozing, drugging, man-crazy sister (Sara Trowbridge) who woke up in the nuthouse after running to Hollywood for fame and fortune?

We're talking serious dysfunction but not altogether too terribly different from the hurts family members do one another in more places than one.

What makes “Crimes” pay here is Henley's script, David Bailey's directing and an on-spot cast. They keep it real.

Katy Barnett puts the rose-colored glasses on to hilarious effect but not without tragic undertones that sneak up on you. Her pistol-firing outburst makes you laugh, cry and wonder.

Sara Trowbridge intrigues with complexity. Her egotism is infuriating. Her broken heart breaks yours. Here a failed screen star turned hard as nails on the outside but not without a soft spot inside.

“Poor Me” gets old quick. Heidi Jean Weinrich laces hers with just enough “I will be happy” to connect. Her woman without a man is a one is a lonely number. But there is more to her.

Male influences steadying the never-ending mood swings of the female psyche are provided, courtesy of Adam Broback and David Bailey, who also directed.

Make no mistake, “Crimes” is feminine sensibility shown to theatrical advantage: fragile on the outside, tough on the inside. Tears by the gallons are shed but as many from the comedy as the tragedy of the situation.

Men, put “Crimes” in the class of chick flicks if you must, but run the risk of oversimplifying if you do. I got a lot out of it.

Reactions? Comments? E-mail Dale Burrows at entfeatures@heraldnet.com or grayghost7@comcast.net.