MANSFIELD — Scott Stoops is used to developing his roles as an actor, fleshing out words from a script, searching for the nuances of the characters he portrays.
On Friday night, the veteran actor makes his directorial debut with “Crimes of the Heart” on the 2nd Stage at the Mansfield Playhouse.
“I have really enjoyed doing it. On the one hand, of course, most of my time has been on the other side, where I’m (on stage). I think I’ve enjoyed doing it. I will definitely do it again,” said Stoops, whose most recent performance at the Playhouse was in the same cozy 2nd Stage venue in “Airport Encounters” six months ago.
The play, written by American playwright Beth Henley, is set in the tiny town of Hazlehurst, Miss., about 30 miles south of the state capitol in Jackson. It won the 1981 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and was nominated for a Tony Award.
“Crimes of the Heart” is primarily the story of the three adult Magrath sisters, who gather to await news of the family patriarch, their grandfather, who is living out his last hours in the local hospital.
Their troubles, grave (and at times hilarious), are highlighted by their priggish cousin, Chick, and by Barnette, the awkward young lawyer who tries to keep Babe out of jail while helpless not to fall in love with her.
Lenny, the oldest, is unmarried at 30 and facing diminishing marital prospects. Meg, the middle sister, who quickly outgrew Hazlehurst, is back after a failed singing career on the West Coast. Babe, the youngest, is out on bail after having shot her husband in the stomach.
It’s been up to Stoops to pull the six-member cast together — and to also build the set on the small stage.
“The difference for me, as an actor, I’ve got my character. I have got my scenes. I have got my blocking. As a director, I have everybody’s characters, everybody’s scenes, everybody’s blocking,” the 63-year-old Olivesburg resident said.
“I have the ability to have a vision for it that I don’t quite have as an actor. So I get to play with it at a little higher than what what the other actors do,” said Stoops, who retired a year ago from his work at Ashland University.
(Photos from a dress rehearsal Monday night during “Crimes of the Heart,” a show which opens Friday night on the 2nd Stage at the Mansfield Playhouse. The story continues below the gallery.)
The show also represents a first for Amanda Lyons as Chick.
It’s not her first show — but it’s the first time the 30-year-old has had an extensive role.
“I always love doing plays. This is my fourth show, but it’s the first one actually having more than just five lines,” she said.
“When I got hold of the script, I was able to borrow the script before auditions, and I read through it … I knew I wanted to be Chick,” Lyons said.
“She had an attitude and felt like she was better than everyone else. It was just funny how she thinks she is above everyone,” she said.
What’s been the biggest challenge?
“I’d say really the biggest struggle is in my first scene, trying to get the nylons on and off,” she said with a laugh.
“I got my lines memorized pretty quickly, which I even surprised myself with that. I like the comedy in this show. It’s not all a comedy, but some of the little bits of comedy are pretty funny,” she said.
Mary Kettering of Ashland, who made her Mansfield Playhouse debut in 2022 in “Wrong Window!,” has rapidly become a stage veteran, now appearing in her fifth show as middle sister Meg.
“Meg is a musician and I am a musician. So that’s kind of cool. That’s about where the similarities end, though. She smokes a lot. She sleeps around and she drinks a lot.
“It’s fun to pretend to be someone totally different than I am,” said Kettering, who works in multiple roles in her hometown, including the creation of a new events website called GotogirlAshland.com.
“It centralizes fun events and local activities for people in Ashland. That’s my newest endeavor,” she said.
Kettering enjoys the story arc found in Meg’s character in the show.
“She comes home to help the situation with her youngest sister, but she kind of has a history of thinking about herself. Meg is not really good at thinking about other people.
“But along the way, she does find out that she can care about other people and it’s kind of enlightening for her,” Kettering said.
While helping all of his cast members find their characters, Stoops also discovered the joys — and challenges — of designing a set for the intimate 2nd Stage environment.
“I found a very quickly that my grandiose design wasn’t going to work,” he said with a laugh.
“Mostly because it’s obviously a very confined space. I really had to adjust the design of it to the flats that I had available and how I could carry out the writer’s vision in a very confined space.
“This particular show actually calls for four doorways. I found a way to condense it into two that are actually functional,” he said.