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Steel Magnolias
October 31, November 1,7,8,14 & 15
8:00 PM Evening Performance
November 1,2,8,9,15 & 16
2:00 PM Matinee Performance
@The Theatre at the River of Grass Arts Park
Read: Women strong as 'Steel Magnolias' BY EILEEN SOLER, The Herald
The close-knit circle of women at Truvy's Beauty Salon, the unofficial hub of Chinquapin, La., have lots of time to gossip. Their husbands -- absent, depressed or dead -- have made sure of that. Consequently, visitors to the salon get more than a wash and a cut.
The wise-cracking Truvy with the help of her new glamour technician, Annelle dispenses shampoo with liberal doses of free advice and gossip to the town's rich curmudgeon, Ouiser, an eccentric millionaire, Miss Clairee and the local town social worker, M'Lynn, whose daughter, Shelby is on the verge of marriage. The women at Truvy's beauty parlor are the steel magnolias of the title: Southern belles, flowery on the outside, but strong enough inside to survive any challenge, many of which are presented throughout the course of the narrative.
Alternately hilarious and touching, the play focuses on the camaraderie of these six Southern women who talk, gab, gossip, chitchat, needle and harangue each other through the best of times -- and cry, caress, comfort and repair one another through the worst. They're soul mates in a rarefied way that assumes a cult of femininity -- sisters come hell and high water. Pushing laughter and pain together, Steel Magnolias pulls tears from even the most cynical eyes.
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