Chick mentions that Doc is crippled with a limp due to Meg's actions and does not want her to come home.

Lenny arrives home and tells Babe that she is frustrated with Meg because she lied to their grandfather about her success.

Babe comes to look for her sister but finds her lawyer, Barnette with photos of her and her lover, Willie Jay.

Unknown to her, a friend entered it in the Great American Play Contest at the Actors Theatre of Louisville.

[2] The play was first performed in February 1979 at the Actors Theatre Louisville and it was named co-winner of the contest.

The play continued to be developed, with productions in Los Gatos, California, St. Louis, and Baltimore at the Centre Stage Theatre.

[3] The Manhattan Theatre Club produced the play Off-Broadway at Stage 73, from December 9, 1980, to January 11, 1981, for 35 sold-out performances.

[4] Directed by Melvin Bernhardt, the set design was by John Lee Beatty, costumes by Patricia McGourty, and lighting by Dennis Parichy.

The play opened on Broadway at the John Golden Theatre on November 4, 1981, and closed on February 13, 1983, after 535 performances and 13 previews with cast replacements Raymond Baker (Doc Porter) and Sharon Ullrick (Chick Boyle).

[5] Holly Hunter made her Broadway debut later in the run as a replacement in the role of Meg.

It was directed by Garry Hynes, and featured Julia Murney (Chick), Enid Graham (Lenny), Mary Catherine Garrison (Babe), and Amy Ryan (Meg).

The play was presented at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in August 2007, directed by Kathleen Turner and featuring Jennifer Dundas, Sarah Paulson, Lily Rabe, and Kali Rocha.

[10] The 1986 film adaptation was directed by Bruce Beresford; and starred Sissy Spacek as Babe, Jessica Lange as Meg, Diane Keaton as Lenny, Tess Harper as Chick, Sam Shepard as Doc, and Hurd Hatfield as Old Granddaddy.

Might regular theatergoers eventually tire of these adorable eccentrics, laughing through their tears and crying themselves back to laughter again?

The quick return of 'Crimes of the Heart,'... gives another handful of talented women a chance to exercise—and, in the case of Ms. Turner, deepen—their gifts onstage.