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'Crimes' opens tonight with humor wrapped in tragedy
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LIMA - One sister is lonely in love, another has a failed Hollywood career, the youngest shot her husband and their mother committed suicide.
And yet, this Pulitzer Prize-winning play is a comedy.
"Crimes of the Heart," by Beth Henley, opens tonight at Encore Theatre, and the humor is of the dark variety, the kind that stems from real-life drama that's so ridiculous you just have to laugh.
For example: The reason the youngest sister shot her husband?
"Because I just didn't like his looks," the character says.
According to the play's director, George Dunster, "Crimes" is about ordinary, nice people "who do some very dumb things. You sort of feel sorry for them."
But it's still funny.
"They're good people, they're sincere ... (Henley) was writing about people and family that she knew," he says. "You feel sort of hopeful for them at the end of the play."
Set in Mississippi, Henley wrote the play in the late 1970s and it went to Broadway in the early 1980s. It was first performed at Encore about 21 years ago and this season's performance is in celebration of Encore Theatre's 50th anniversary. Plays from the theater's history will be performed throughout this season, Dunster says.
"Crimes" is one production that has stood the test of time and translates well in any decade in which it's performed. No actual dates are used in the play, and this performance is set in the present day, Dunster says.
"I think people will find it interesting. You take in all these shenanigans," he says. "This is really serious stuff but it's handled in a really fun way."
The cast includes local Encore veteran Brett Shingledecker, new-to-Encore Justin Atkins, Jodi Brincefield, Jan Miller, Alice Davis and Linda McClure.
In addition to Encore Theatre's 50th anniversary, the Amil Tellers of Dramatics Inc. is celebrating 75 years of existence. Amil is "Lima" spelled backwards, and is the group that owns and operates the theater. And if two anniversaries weren't enough, Encore's youth theater has hit the 10-year mark.
What: "Crimes of the Heart"
WHEN: 8 p.m. today and Saturday and Sept. 20; 2 p.m. Sunday and Sept. 21
WHERE: Encore Theatre, 991 N. Shore Drive, Lima
COST: $13 adult, $11 seniors, $8 youth
FOR MORE INFO: 419-223-8866 or 800-944-1441
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