New production at URI starts on Thursday

URI Theatre presents Crimes of the Heart, opens Feb. 20

Bonnie Bosworth, URI

Hot Stuff: Lenny (Daren DeFrank of West
Hartford, Conn.) pours coffee for Doc Porter
(Benjamin Miller of Barrington, R.I.) who is
politely waiting for her younger sister.

KINGSTON, RI -- February 14, 2014 – The University of Rhode Island Theatre Department will present Crimes of the Heart, Beth Henley's Pulitzer Prize-winning drama that is described as a darkly comic family feud.

The show will be staged Feb. 20 through 22 and Feb. 27 to March 1 at 7:30 p.m. and Saturdays, Feb. 23 and Mar. 2, at 3 p.m. in the Robert E. Will Theatre in the URI Fine Arts Center on the Kingston Campus. General admission is $20, $15 for seniors, URI faculty/staff, and $12 for students. Tickets can be purchased by calling 401.874.5843 or online at web.uri.edu/theatre.

"Crimes of the Heart" tells the tale of the three MacGrath sisters from Hazelhurst, Miss., who are at a crossroads in their lives. The play takes us on a journey in which Lenny, the eldest sister who is about to turn 30, Meg, the middle sister who is home after an unsuccessful try at a singing career, and Babe, the youngest who just shot her husband, must overcome the legacy of self-destruction stemming from their mother's earlier suicide. 



With the help of the men who love them and their own better natures, the sisters reunite with love in this quirky, laugh-out-loud comedy.

The URI production is directed by Bryna Wortman, associate professor, (Much Ado About Nothing, Marvin’s Room, The Sea Gull, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie), costume design is by Marilyn Salvatore, guest artist, set design is by Steven V. Wilson, senior design major, lighting is by Christian Wittwer, associate professor, and sound design is by Mike Hyde, guest artist.

Cast

Julia Bartoletti of Charton, Mass. as Meg
Daren DeFrank of West Hartford, Conn., as Lenny
Benjamin Miller of Barrington, R.I., as Doc Porter
Stephen Peterson of Torrington, Conn., as Barnette Lloyd
Catherine Poirier of Woodstock, Conn., as Chick
Devin Vietri of Narragansett, R.I., as Babe

Understudies:

Randi Lynn Budlong of Middletown, R.I., as Babe 
Ben Church of East Providence, R.I., as Doc 
Amaris J. Gagnon of Agawam, Mass., as Meg 
Philip Ryng of North Kingstown, R.I., as Barnette Lloyd 
Emma Sacchetti of Norwalk, Conn., as Chick 
Lauren Ashley Thiele of North Muskegon, Mich., as Lenny

URI Theatre photos by Randy Osga. More images are available at http://www.flickr.com/photos/uritoday/sets/72157640891490593/