Students Encouraged To Audition For Fall Production At VGCC
Open auditions are being held on Tuesday, Sept. 11, for the VGCC Drama Department’s fall theatrical production of “Crimes of the Heart.” All students are encouraged to attend the auditions at 2 p.m. in the VGCC Small Auditorium on Main Campus.
The production will be staged in the Small Auditorium Nov. 29 through Dec. 2.
Previous theater experience is not required, according to Betsy Henderson, director of the show and VGCC’s Theatre Arts/speech instructor and department chair of Fine Arts and Humanities. Students should prepare a one-minute comedic monologue and they will be asked to read from the play. Scripts are available for checkout from Henderson.
The play, described as a tragicomedy, was written by American playwright Beth Henley. Set in Hazlehurst, Mississippi, in the mid-20 th century, it’s the story of three sisters who gather to await news of their grandfather’s death.
Henderson said the sisters are characterized in this manner: “Lenny, the oldest sister, is unmarried at 30 and facing diminishing marital prospects; Meg, the middle sister, who quickly outgrew Hazlehurst, is back after a failed singing career on the West Coast; while Babe, the youngest, is out on bail after having shot her husband in the stomach.”
Henderson added, “Their troubles, grave and yet, somehow, hilarious, are highlighted by their priggish cousin, Chick, and by the awkward young lawyer who tries to keep Babe out of jail while helpless not to fall in love with her.”
The play is ultimately the story of how these young characters can escape their past to seize the future, Henderson said. “The telling of the story is very true and touching and consistently hilarious,” guaranteed to entertain audiences.
The show was winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the New York Drama Critics Circle Award in 1981. A critic for the New York Times said, “While this play overflows with infectious high spirits, it is also, unmistakably, the tale of a very troubled family. Such is Miss Henley’s prodigious talent that she can serve us pain as though it were a piece of cake.”
Students who have questions about the auditions should contact Betsy Henderson at hendersonb@vgcc.edu or stop by Room 6135 in Building 6 on the Main Campus.
