November 29,2001
The Blue Banner
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Theatre UNCA presents Southern drama
Sarah-Vance
Goodman
Features Reporter
Theatre UNCA presented
“Crimes of the Heart,” a delight
fully funny performance about the
lives of three Southern sisters and
how they became reunited in the
midst of individual crises at their
Hazelhurst, Mississippi homestead.
Whether it was aging, love, in
fatuation, sickness, or murder, the
issues facing the Magrath women
were deeply true to life, yet per
formed lightheartedly to lessen the
intensity. The girls were kept dwell
ing in a state of chaos, but all
throughout the play they brought
forth peals of laughter from the
audience.
From the very first scene where
Lenny, played by Mary McAvoy,
was grieving over her 30th birth
day, I was either laughing out loud
or anticipating a punchline.
McAvoy portrayed the oldest of
the Magrath sisters, who was throw
ing herself a party with one candle
and a cookie. She embodied a self-
conscious worrywart who cried on
demand and spastically waved her
hands while speaking. McAvoy did
a stellar job eliciting my sympathy.
PHOTO COURTESY OF UNCA DRAMA DEPARTMENT
Mary McAvoy, Angela Koon, and Lauren Spear share a tense moment in “Crimes of the Heart”
making sure she let the other char
acters know that she had taken on
the burden of caring for her coma
tose grandfather.
She meticulously made sure that
everything was in order, but let
down her guard upon the arrival of
her sisters.
Meg, performed by Angela Koon,
was a supposedly well to do singer
with a spunky Shania Twain twist.
High heels and all, Koon delivered
a twangy country accent perfectly,
so perfectly that I would have be
lieved if she told me she was a
caricature from Dollywood.
She had infatuation issues with
her ex-lover and found herself on a
moonlight rendezvous, getting
drunk with a local named Doc,
played by Jeremy Burgess. Koon
embodied confidence, which al
lowed her to skip away from the
family situation, taking care of a
dying grandpa. She made light of
all of her problems, medicating
them with alcohol and love.
Babe, the youngest and most hi
larious of the trio entered the scene
squealing with delight upon greet
ing Meg. Performed by Lauren
Spear, the young gal wore an out
standing pink dress, probably styl
ish for the 1974 setting.
She evoked laughter as she walked
a thin line between being an out
landish busybody and a timid in
trovert. With probing, however, any
bit of juicy information could be
pulled from her mouth.
Spear played dumb throughout
the entire play, creating a hilari
ously ambivalent attitude about her
grandfather’s illness and her attempt
to murder herhusband. She laughed
about the former and about the
later she states, quite frankly that
the reason she pulled the trigger on
her husband was because she “didn’t
like his looks, I just didn’t like his
looks.”
In a culmination of the frustration
she was facing, Spear decided to
end her life and ran up the pseudo
staircase at the back of the scene
with a rope in her hand. Later, she
returned in a frantic fit with the
rope tied around her neck, drag
ging a light fixture behind her that
she had pulled away from the ceil
ing in her futile attempt at suicide.
To make things even more outra
geous, McAvoy and Koon both sat
oblivious to Spear’s predicament,
obviously entangled in issues of their
own.
The props and costumes used were
simple. If it were done any other
way, it could have possibly ruined
the point.
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The Blue
Banner
polls
UNCA
students
What do you
do on the
weekend?
“I pretty much lay around and be
lazy. (I) rest because I have soccer,
and don’t get to rest that much.”
Sarah Thorp,
Undeclared Freshman
“I play frisbee golf. I went to
church. I went to Apollo Flame. I
went to Applebees, and I went to
Wal-Mart and to Campus Cru
sade. I went to Mellow Mush
room. I spent a lot of money.”
Shane Ambro,
Sophomore History
and Music Major
“On the weekends I hang out
with my friends who live in Asheville
because I’ve lived in Asheville for a
lot of my life. So, I go over to their
houses and eat food with them. I
play the ‘Harry Potter’ card game,
and I knit and watch videos. That is
about it.”
Monica Combs,
Undeclared Freshman
“On the weekends, I alternate. I
go home to Raleigh one weekend to
see my mom, my family, my boy
friend and my friends there. I usu
ally just hang out with them and do
regular stuff
Then, on the other weekends, I go
to my dad’s (house) in Tennessee
and hang out with him. I’ve stayed
here a couple times mostly just to
do school work and get stuff done.
I don’t really do anything fun.”
Jennifer Ferrell,
Undeclared Freshman
“Basically, (I go to) house parties,
hang out with friends. (I do) not
(go) really any particular place, like
a club or bar or anything.”
Christy Acee,
Undeclared Sophomore
“I just like to relax with some
friends whenever I get the chance.”
Travis Meuten,
Sophomore Biology Major
“I like to work on the weekends,
and also go to church on the week
ends.”
Shea Watson,
Alumni
“I watch movies in friend’s rooms,
and I work. I go to church on
Sundays.”
Kami Doty,
Senior Accounting Major
“I work on the weekends.”
Shannon Brewer,
Junior
Mass Communication Major