It’s not every day that a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright comes to Harper College, but Beth Henley will be in the audience when Theatre Professor Kevin Long directs the Harper Ensemble Theatre Company in her award-winning play, Crimes of the Heart.
Born and raised in Mississippi, Henley now lives in Los Angeles where she is the President’s Professor of Theatre Arts at Loyola Marymount University. The acclaimed writer will be in the audience for Harper’s opening night and will also participate in events on campus on March 8 and 9, including post-show audience talkbacks and meet-and-greet receptions, during which Henley will sign copies of her work (available via the HarperStore). Henley will also lead a playwriting workshop and participate in a lunch with cast and crew on March 9.
Henley’s visit isn’t the first time Long has brought a celebrated writer to Harper. Last year, playwright Boo Killebrew took part in events related to Long’s production of her play Lettie. In 2014, he invited Tony-winning playwright and Oscar-winning screenwriter Alfred Uhry to campus in conjunction with his direction of all three works in Uhry's “Atlanta Trilogy” (Driving Miss Daisy, Parade and The Last Night of Ballyhoo).
