One sister shot her husband. Another moved to Hollywood, and the other became a homebody. And you wonder why they haven’t spoken to each other in years.

This is the initial basis for the student play, “Crimes of the Heart,” opening Friday night at the Iowa State Center’s Fisher Theater. The performance will be repeated both Saturday and Sunday.

The six-character cast provides an intimate look into each of the lives portrayed in the play, says Jane Cox, director of the play and associate professor of music.

“The way Beth Henley [the author] wrote the play, the audience will relate to all of the characters by the end of the play in some way,” she says.

One of the lead actors, Megan Helmers, senior in English, agrees with Cox.

“The sisters are really different, but everyone will relate to. at least one aspect of the emotions portrayed,” Helmers says.

The story begins with the three sisters coming back home to Mississippi for the first time in years.

Babe, the youngest sister, instigated this by shooting her husband after living a pampered lifestyle with him.

The oldest sibling, Lenny, has stayed home to care for their grandfather and turned into an old maid.

Meg, portrayed by Helmers, is the wild sister who drinks, smokes and runs around with various men.

“[Meg] hasn’t had much contact with anyone from home since she left,” Helmers says. “She did the things that the other two never got to do.”

The plot deals with the sisters’ love affairs and how they find themselves as their personalities deepen and change, Cox says.

“Beth Henley has a way of writing conversations that everyone will understand and find funny,” she says.

Henley had two sisters of her own, and took their lives together as inspiration, Cox says.

As with all sibling relationships, the emotions of the sisters are sporadic.

“One minute they are laughing, the next they are crying and screaming at each other,” Helmers says. “The variance in emotions adds so much to the humor of the play.”

Cox says the humor captures the essence of ordinary conversations between people.

“[The dialogue] is so real, if we were that funny and witty in every statement we make in everyday conversations,” she says.

Cox believes the cast has done an amazing job with the script.

“It is such a great play, and I hope a lot of people come to see it,” she says.