A native of Jackson, Mississippi, Beth Henley wrote Crimes of the Heart (1st edition; reprint, 1986) while living in Los Angeles in the late 1970s. The play won numerous awards including: the Great American Play Contest sponsored by the Actors Theatre in Louisville, Kentucky (1979); the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for "Best New American Play" (1981); the Pulitzer Prize for drama (1981); and a Tony Award nomination for "Best Play."

Crimes of the Heart is set in the town of Hazlehurst, Mississippi, and opens with the reunion of the Magrath sisters. The 1986 film version closely follows the original story line. News has circulated around town about Babe, the youngest Magrath sister (played by Sissy Spacek), fatally shooting her senator husband because, "she did not like his looks." The reunion brings joy, but also creates tension, painful reminiscences, and finally self discovery. Henley received an Academy Award nomination for "Best Adapted Screenplay" and Sissy Spacek won a Golden Globe for "Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture-Comedy/Musical."

Henley's next feature film was Miss Firecracker (1989), based on the play The Miss Firecracker Contest (1979). Carnelle Scott, a social outcast played by Holly Hunter, enters the local beauty pageant in an attempt to change her reputation. Set in Yazoo, Mississippi, the film's cast includes Tim Robbins, as Carnelle's deranged cousin; Mary Steenburgen as a classic southern belle and former "Miss Firecracker"; Alfre Woodard as a local seamstress who credits bullfrogs for her talents, and Scott Glenn, Carnelle's beau.

The items featured in this exhibit demonstrate how Henley's creativity grew from handwritten drafts in spiral-bound notebooks to produced plays and then to the big screen. On display are handwritten drafts from both plays, Crimes of the Heart press materials, and published books.