Crimes of the Heart by Beth Henley

Crimes of the Heart takes place in Hazlehurst, Mississippi, five years after Hurricane Camille. The three Magrath sisters have gathered to await news of the family patriarch, their grandfather, who is living out his last hours in the local hospital. Lenny, the oldest sister, is unmarried at thirty and facing diminishing marital prospects. Meg, the middle sister, is back after a failed singing career on the West Coast. meanwhile, Babe, the youngest, is out on bail after having shot her husband in the stomach. Their troubles, that are grave and yet, somehow, hilarious, are highlighted by their piggish cousin, Chick, and by the awkward young lawyer, Barnette, who tries to keep Babe out of jail while helpless not to fall in love with her. To complicate matters, an old flame of Meg’s, Doc Porter shows back up in town. In the end, the play is the story of how its characters escape the past to seize the future… the telling is so true and touching and consistently hilarious that it will linger in the mind long after the curtain has descended.