Video preview: Dramatic comedy ‘Crimes of the Heart’ opens Oct. 17

UW-Green Bay Theatre and Dance will present the Pulitzer Prize-winning play Crimes of the Heart Oct. 17-19 and 23-26 in the Jean Weidner Theatre at the Weidner Center for the Performing Arts. Here, director and cast share what they love about this dramatic comedy.

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John Mariano: Crimes of the Heart is the Pulitzer Prize-winning play from 1981. It’s a comedy about three sisters who were raised in a small town in Mississippi. And this is a while after they’ve separated, and they’re all sort of reconvening to deal with the crisis of the youngest sister having shot her husband.

When the sisters reunite, they really deal with a lot of the skeletons in the family closet so there are a lot of very poignant moments, a lot of very serious moments about family and learning to work together. But it’s ultimately a comedy that takes place in trying to get Babe, the youngest daughter, out of trouble.

Katie Kluever: Babe is more naïve and just a little out there and kind of goofy. She’s very confused at this point in her life. She is falling in love with her lawyer, she just shot her husband – and luckily her two sisters are here to help.

Cherran Dea Rasmovicz: It’s really interesting to see the dynamic of portraying a sister who’s kind of a rock that holds us together in a sense. We all kind of go insane, but I try to keep them grounded.

Ashley Wisneski: I think anyone who has siblings, or sisters – I have four myself – will come to the show and be like yeah, that’s sisterhood. That’s what happens.

Mariano: I love the fact that it does mix the comedy and the serious aspects of it so well. It’s really unique in that. There are parts of it that are very, very funny. But in the end it’s really kind of a very moving play I think about the need for each other that the sisters have.

Rasmovicz: It’s not just a comedy. It’s got something to teach the audience.

Tickets available online.

Read more: UW-Green Bay news release on Crimes of the Heart.