Beth Henley's birthplace and upbringing have determined the subject and setting of many of her plays. Born in Jackson, Mississippi on May 8, 1952, Elizabeth Becker Henley is the second of four daughters of an attorney and state senator, Charles Boyce, and an actress, Elizabeth Josephine Henley. As a child, she attentively watched her mother's work in regional theatre and followed this interest to a fine arts degree at Southern Methodist University in 1974. Although she aspired to be an actress, she wrote her first play Am I Blue while in college. She taught at the Dallas Minority Repertory Theatre for a year after graduation, studied and taught for another year at the University of Illinois-Urbana, then moved to Los Angeles.

She soon realized that breaking into acting was a futile effort and turned to playwriting. Her second play, Crimes of the Heart, was first produced in 1979 and went...