Steel Magnolias

by Robert Harling Directed by Amanda Berg Wilson

“When I was a kid, a lady in the neighborhood had a large metal floral paperweight on her kitchen counter that served as a receptacle for change, keys…it weighed down the check for the milkman or the dry cleaner receipt…whatever. She called that thing on her counter ‘the steel magnolia.’ In her sweet drawl, she’d say, ‘Take a quarter from the steel magnolia and get us some ice cream.’ I found it interesting that the thing was neither steel nor a magnolia, but that’s what she called it. And the imagery stuck. Something beautiful made of very strong stuff.”

– Robert Harling

Written nearly 35 years ago, Robert Harling’s funny and poignant play Steel Magnolias and its themes endure. Inspired by his sister’s death in 1985 of complications from diabetes, the play celebrates friendship, community, and how friends can help us grieve. Originally directed by current CRT board member Pamela Berlin in 1987, the show has since spawned two movie adaptations and countless theatrical productions. It also allows theatre companies like CRT to showcase some of its best female talent. CRT last produced Steel Magnolias in 1995 featuring Christy Brandt as Shelby’s mother, M’Lynn Eatenton. In 2022, she tackles the role of community leader, Clairee Belcher. Brandt says, “This is one of my all-time favorite plays. I think all the characters are so unique and funny and it will be an exciting challenge to inhabit a new one after 27 years!” The show also features CRT favorite Anne Faith Butler as Ouiser Boudreaux. When asked what she’s most looking forward to this summer, Brandt adds, “Of course working with Annie Butler is my greatest joy. I look forward to a summer of lots of laughs.” Christy Brandt (center left) and the cast of CRT's 1995

(top) Members of the original Broadway cast backstage (with audience member, Joan Rivers) in 1987, (center) the cast of the 1989 movie adaptation which starred a young Julia Roberts as Shelby, (bottom) the 2012 remake with an all Black cast that included Phylicia Rashad, Queen Latifah, and Alfre Woodard.

production of Steel Magnolias.

STEVE & MARTI KIELY PEGGY LONGWOOD LAMB

Curious about how friendship alters the way we approach the difficulties of life, researchers at the University of Virginia conducted an experiment. One day, as UVA students traveled between their classes on campus, the researchers asked them to volunteer. Some of the students they asked were Amanda Berg Wilson walking alone, others were walking in pairs. They gave each student a backpack, the weight of which was equal to approximately 20% of that student’s body weight, then asked each to estimate the incline of a hill they would be tasked with climbing. The students who were alone estimated the hill to be much steeper than those who were prepared to climb it with their friend. Even more fascinatingly, the longer the two friends had known one another, the less steep they estimated the climb to be.

The researchers’ conclusion: with friends by our side, the challenges of being human become less daunting.

More interesting data from other experiments: people with strong social relationships have a 50% increased likelihood of living a long life. And: those who live in communities with more public gathering places have a greater level of public trust.

Steel Magnolias is a 1987 play by Robert Harling, written upon the advice of a friend as a way to process his grief after his sister’s death. It began as a short story, one that Harling hoped would one day help his late sister’s son understand more about his mother. And what is the story that Uncle Robert wanted to tell his nephew? I think at its core he is telling a story of the fierce, indelible love between a mother and child and how that love is complicated by the child’s need to separate from her mother and become her own person.

But more broadly, the play is also an exploration of that same thing the researchers at UVA set out to quantify: how precious our relationships with the folks in our community are—the children of our friends, the neighbor with whom we may have disagreements, the woman who does our hair. And how an everyday gathering space—the neighborhood hair salon—can be a sanctuary from the exigencies of the outside world. At its foundation, Steel Magnolias is about the same thing all that data proves—how important our friendships are to navigating this life.

This is the third piece I’ve been lucky enough to captain at CRT (after 2018’s 9 to 5 and 2019’s Pride and Prejudice), and all three have focused on the lived experience of women. As a feminist, a friend, a wife, a daughter, and most especially as a mother, I feel grateful for the way in which Steel Magnolias celebrates women in various stages of life—a newlywed, a mother-of-the-bride, an empty nester, a widow. But these specific women-centered stories are nestled in a universal truth—we need one another, y’all. As we emerge from these pandemic years characterized by so much isolation, I hope our production of Steel Magnolias will be a hilarious, heart-wrenching, heart-warming reminder.

THE SLATER FAMILY One 15-Minute Intermission

CREATIVE TEAM

Director Amanda Berg Wilson Scenic Design Lindsay Fuori** Costume Design Erin Lavespere Lighting Design MacKenzie Mulligan Sound Design Max Silverman Wig Design Cassondra Takas Dialect Coach Rebecca Bossen EDI Deputy Alyssa Peters

STAGE MANAGEMENT

Stage Manager Wilhelm Peters* Asst. Stage Manager Miranda Ray Asst. Stage Manager Olivia ZapaterCharrette

CAST

Truvy Jones Teonna Wesley* Annelle Dupuy-Desoto Brittni Shambaugh Addison Clairee Belcher Christy Brandt* Shelby Emily Bosco* Eatenton-Latcherie M’Lynn Eatenton Kate Berry* Ouiser Boudreaux Anne Faith Butler* Understudies Jenni Harbour Caitlin Wise* Emily Van Fleet* Steel Magnolias is presented by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc., New York. Originally produced by the W.P.A. Theatre, New York City, 1987 (Kyle Renick, Artistic Director). Content Information: This play contains some mature themes, big hair, and lots of town gossip.

** Terrence and Polly Jones Scenic Designer