The “Steel Magnolias” story will be told on two local stages this spring, in different ways and different cities.
At Langley’s Theatre in The Country, Surrey-based actor Hana Shiels heads to Truvy’s Beauty shop in Louisiana to learn how to do hair and learn a few things from local women, who take her character Annelle under their wing as she deals with a missing husband.
On April 12 the play opens a run of two-plus weeks at the dinner-theatre venue on Glover Road. Details are found on theatreinthecountry.com, or call 604-259-9737.
“We here at TIC are thrilled to be mounting a classic of modern theatre,” raved Reg Parks, artistic director. “It is a wonderful comic-drama that takes the audience on a journey into the lives of remarkable women as they confront each other and share triumphs and tragedies.”
The 1989 film version of “Steel Magnolias” starred newbie Julia Roberts along with Sally Field, Shirley MacLaine, Olympia Dukakis, Daryl Hannah and Dolly Parton. Two years earlier, in 1987, Robert Harling’s play debuted on stage.
The play is based on Harling’s own life experience as he watched his sister deal with the devastating impact of diabetes.
“He felt it was important to show how the people in his play used humour and light-heartedness to cope with the seriousness of the underlying circumstances just as his own family had done,” Parks noted. “Over the years people have seen themselves in all the great characters in this play and have felt the healing balm of its words and message of hope in the face of adversity.”
Shiels has been involved in a number of plays at Theatre in the Country including “Murder on the Orient Express” last August. She played Mary, the classic femme fatale.
• RELATED STORY, from February: Dinner, laughs and one disastrous whodunit at Langley’s Theatre in The Country.
Elsewhere, Surrey’s Naked Stage Productions Society will stage a “reader’s theatre” version of “Steel Magnolias” at Newton Cultural Centre from June 2-4.
Auditions for the Colleen McGoff Dean-directed production will take place from 6 to 9 p.m. on April 18 and 20, with cold readings of the script. Email producer Kelly Thompson at kellyinva@gmail.com with a recent head shot, acting resume and the role(s) for which you are interested in auditioning prior to April 17. Look for more info on nspsociety.com.
The characters in “Steel Magnolias” are Truvy Jones (40ish, owner of the beauty shop), Annelle Dupuy-Desoto (19, beauty shop assistant), Clairee Belcher (66ish, widow of former mayor, grande dame), Shelby Eatenton-Latcherie (25, prettiest girl in town), M’Lynn Eatenton (50ish, Shelby’s mother, socially prominent career woman) and Ousier Boudreaux (66ish, wealthy curmudgeon, acerbic but lovable).
While Naked Stage’s company name might imply an erotic happening, it’s the stage that’s naked, not the performers. The shows don’t have movement, extensive lighting, sound systems or props. The stage is bare except for actors sitting on stools and music stands holding their scripts.
Next up for Naked Stage is Daniel MacIvor’s “Small Things,” a play about the quirky relationships of a very formal retired schoolteacher, her pugnacious housekeeper and her housekeeper’s drifter of a daughter, April 21-23 at Newton Cultural Centre.
tom.zillich@surreynowleader.com
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