Act 1 Summary

The play opens in the kitchen of the Magrath family home in Hazelhurst, Mississippi. It is an unusually large and cluttered kitchen. Lenny Magrath, the oldest of the three Magrath sisters, enters with a suitcase, a saxophone case and a brown paper bag from which she pulls a package of birthday candles. She tries repeatedly and unsuccessfully to stick a candle into a cookie. Finally she gets one to stand up, but as soon as it's lit, she quickly blows out the flame at the sound of her cousin Chick's voice.

Chick is aflutter with disgraceful news about Babe, the youngest Magrath sister, who is being held at the police station for shooting her husband, Zackery. The incident is even more sensational than normal because Zackery is a state senator. Chick has been waiting on Lenny to return from the store with some...