SOURCE: "New Voices Using New Realism: Fuller, Henley, and Norman," in Beyond Naturalism: A New Realism in American Theatre, Greenwood Press, 1988, pp. 125-54.

In the excerpt below, Demastes explores the manner in which Henley "has taken domestic comedy and infused it with an absurdist perspective " in Crimes of the Heart.

Winning the 1981 Pulitzer Prize for Crimes of the Heart at age 29, Beth Henley was the first woman to win the award in twenty-three years. As a successful female dramatist, her voice is a valuable addition to an under-represented element in the field. Her works do focus on women and even on their struggle for independence from a male-dominated hierarchy, but perhaps the unique contribution Henley makes to American theatre has its roots in her Southern heritage; through her, Southern drama returns to mainstream theatre. Concerning her Southern background, Brendan Gill [in The New Yorker, 16 November 1981] offers the following...