Steel Magnolias, Troy Civic Theatre, Troy, Ohio, October 11 and 12, 3013

Six Miami Valley women give their interpretations of  the characters in this 1987 play by Robert Harling this coming weekend at the Troy Civic Theatre.  The performances are at 8 PM both Friday and Saturday.   The play is about the women's close friendships with one another and how they use the power of humor to get through traumatic situations.  The play was opened off-Broadway in 1987.  It is now  produced  in other countries as well as in the United States.

The 1989 American film of the same name and based on this play was  directed by Herbert Ross and starred Sally Field, Dolly Parton, Shirley MacLaine, Daryl Hannah , Olympia Dulcakis, and Julie Roberts.  The film version  is  different from the play.

Directors of the Troy Civic Theatre version, Rebecca O'Brien and Sonja Hyer, encouraged the actresses in  to develop their own interpretations of the six women.  The result is an entertaining and moving  play with many amusing one-liners.  The play rings true to life.

The action takes place in Truvy Jones' Beauty Shop in Chinquapin, Louisiana.  Here are Clairee Belcher, wife of the former mayor of the little town, who is played by Karen Lohr and Truvy Jones, owner of the beauty shop, played by Nikki James.

Below are three other distinctly different women.  Left to right they are the feisty Shelby Eatenton-Latcherie played by Tina Hayes, the usually timid Annelle Dupuy-Desoto, who rarely smiles as she is smiling in this photo, played by Samantha Persing, and Ouiser (pronounced "Weezer") Boudreaux,a grouchy two-time widow, played by Sandy Ehrlich.

The sixth friend, shown below with Clairee, the wife of the former mayor, is M'Lynn Eatenton, mother of the feisty Shelby.  She despairs of convincing Shelby of anything, even when Shelby's life may be endangered.

Come, laugh and cry with these women as they move through life together, hand in hand.  Remember...Friday, October 11 and Saturday, October 12, the action starts at 8 PM at the Troy Civic Theatre in Troy, Ohio.