Henley’s masterpiece to begin the family-centric Fools’ season
By Dana DuGan
Audiences love certain plays: the ones that are familiar, the ones that are humorous, and the ones with a happy ending. “Crimes of the Heart” falls into this pleasing category, but any self-respecting theatre company will take it further and deeper.
Such is the case with Company of Fools, which will present Beth Henley’s multi-award-winning play, beginning with a gala opening night, Friday, June 28, at the Liberty Theatre in Hailey. Doors will open at 6:30 p.m. for COF’s new producing artistic director Scott Palmer to give a public lecture at and share background pertinent to the play. A no-host opening night party will be held after the performance at Sun Valley Brewery, in Hailey.
“Crimes of the Heart” is the first show in COF’s 24th season, which is dubbed Welcome To The Family, and will feature plays written by women, with mostly female casts, Palmer said.
Set in 1974, the play revolves around the McGrath sisters who reunite in their hometown of Hazlehurst, Mississippi, after one of them shoots her abusive husband, while also awaiting news of their grandfather, who is dying in a local hospital.
The play will feature Sharon Barto Gouran as Meg McGrath, Audra Honaker as Lenny McGrath, and Aly Wepplo as Babe McGrath Botrelle. The cast is rounded out by Tess Makenna as the McGrath cousin Chick, Tim Gouran as Doc Porter and David Janeski as Barnette Lloyd.
Lenny is unmarried, and turning 30, though no one recalls that fact. Meg is a struggling singer, just returned from California, and the pistol-packing Babe is out on bail. Each one feels she’s been betrayed somehow—by their absent father, by the men they’ve known and by life in general. Their troubles, which are grave, are also somehow hilarious and are boosted by the schemes of Chick, Doc Porter and Babe’s lawyer, Barnette, who has his own vendetta to attend to. But the play ends on a high note, at least for the moment.
“There’s a thin veneer of Southern gentility that hides pain and scandals,” said Palmer, who is also directing this production. “There’s something truly epic about the South; it constricts but there’s so much can one say with one phrase. There are so many layers underneath. It’s Henley’s writing but it’s also the South.”
Janeski agreed. “There’s something Beth Henley does in many of her works,” he said. “Something beautiful and awful, together on stage in the same moment. Tragedy needs the comedy. It happens all the time.”
“Crimes” was penned by a “Southern woman at a time when American theatre (particularly on Broadway) wasn’t seeing a lot of work by women and featuring strong female characters,” Palmer said. “It shattered expectations and opened the door to the idea that women playwrights, and plays that focus on women’s stories, were not only important but could also be commercially successful.”
Palmer pointed out that the play’s themes and cast have some interesting connections to the Wood River Valley, and Company of Fools, in particular. In 2015, to continue working with COF, Wepplo and Janeski moved from Richmond, Va., which was founded there.
Barto grew up in the Valley, and was introduced to theatre through COF. She has returned from Seattle with her husband Gouran for this production.
“Oddly enough, [she] plays a character who returns to her hometown and grapples with the things that have changed and the things that have stayed the same,” Palmer said. “Audra has a long history of performing with The Fools, and was a great friend of John Glenn’s. She lives in Richmond, where The Fools got their start. These women are remarkably talented, well-trained, and deeply connected to this theatre and this place. It feels oddly appropriate for each of them, with their different histories with The Fools, to be playing these roles.”
Besides Palmer, the crew includes scenic design by Joe Lavigne, costume design by Melissa Heller, lighting design by Steve Koehler, sound design by Chris Henderson, dialect coaching by Ann Price, technical direction by Patrick Szczotka, and production management by K.O. Ogilvie.
“Crimes of the Heart” will run through Saturday, July 13. Tickets are available at the Liberty Theatre box office during business hours, online at sunvalleycenter.org/companyoffools or by calling (208) 578-9122.