South High Theater will be presenting its first play of the season next week. Crimes of the Heart is family drama that focuses on the relationships between three sisters in the South in the 1970s. I sat down with two of the lead actors, Aubryn Hauge and Callie Wilson to talk about the production.

 Q: First off, can you describe the play in five words?
AH: Quirky, relatable, family… This is hard. It is a good play?
CW: Crazy families are normal families.

Q: How would you describe Crimes of the Heart, with more than five words?
CW: It’s about a family, specifically three sisters, in the South. A lot about their relationships; their relationships with each other and their relationships with men, and how they manage to screw those up frequently.
AH: And how they’re going to manage their lives and stay together as a family throughout their problems and after them.

Q: How would you describe your characters?
CW: Lenny is really responsible and she’s the oldest, so she tries to look out for everyone, which leads her to getting in her younger sister’s business. She’s a really good person, but she spends a really long time dealing with other people’s problems and doesn’t deal with her own very well.
AH: I think Meg tends to be quite self absorbed, but at the same time is very worried about her family and those she cares about. But she doesn’t know to deal with her problems, so she tries to run away from her problems. Throughout the play she’s forced to encounter all of her serious problems.

Q: What has been your favorite part of working on the show?
AH: All of it.
CW: Finding the moments where the character gets really outrageous and just going with them. Playing them through, I find really fun. Making those acting decisions.
AH: I’d agree with that. It’s fun to find how far the characters can go. They’re all very real people but they’re all kind of crazy too. Also being ridiculous and having fun with the cast.

Q: Crimes of the Heart deals with some serious subjects, such as violence and suicide. Was it hard figuring out how to depict and deal with these subjects?
CW: I think that the way the playwright approaches serious subjects makes that easier.
AH: They manage to take it very seriously, but also almost make it funny.
CW: Yeah, [the playwright] does a really good job of finding the light in really serious situations.
AH: Our theater director, Ellen, always says that in every tragedy there’s a comedy.
CW: And that every character is just trying to keep their head above water.

Q: Is there anything you think people should know before going to the play?
CW: They should be open to taking whatever they want from it. Some people might take it as really sad, and others might take it as really funny.
AH: Look for everything in it. I think it really has everything: the happiness, the sadness, the funniness, and the seriousness.

Q: Why should people come and see it?
CW: It’s going to be really fun! There’s a lot of sad things that happen in it, but it’s really interesting to see how people overcome it, and there are a lot of ridiculous, funny parts.
AH: I think it’s very relatable for a lot of families.

Crimes of the Heart will be showing October 30th, 31st, and November 1st at 7pm on the Mainstage. Tickets are $7 for students and $9 for adults.