SVCT runs the gamut of emotions with ‘Steel Magnolias’

SIERRA VISTA — It’s no small feat for a community theater to attempt a rendition of a film as star-studded and beloved as “Steel Magnolias,” but it’s a challenge Sierra Vista’s playhouse is eager to take on.

The 1989 film starring Sally Field, Shirley MacLaine, Dolly Parton and Julia Roberts was conceived and performed as a play set entirely in a beauty salon in fictional Chinquapin Parish, Louisiana, and based on the real-life experience of playwright Robert Harling, whose sister died from complications related to diabetes.

“We’re trying not to re-create the movie; you can’t step into those shoes, that is its own thing,” said Haley Bright, who plays the role of M’lynn Eatenton, made famous by Sally Field in the film. “But it’s fun, it’s a lot of laughter. And even as one of the lines in the play says, ‘laughter through tears,’ so I think everyone will enjoy it.”

Most, if not all, of the six-woman cast for the Sierra Vista Community Theater production is quite familiar and fond of the film, particularly Eve Cotellessa, a veteran of community theaters in South Dakota and Sacramento, California, who estimates she’s seen the movie 22 times.

“The cast in the movie, to me, has the same camaraderie that we have here in this production,” said Cotellessa, who plays Ouiser Boudreaux, the role donned by Shirley MacLaine in the film version. “The six women in this have become fast friends. We spend a lot of time off set getting together, talking and sharing things about it, so that actually brings us closer.”

Putting it all together is first-time director Allie Cleere.

“Oh, I love Allie; she is absolutely amazing,” Cotellessa said. “There’s not a mean bone in Allie’s body, but she gets her point across in a very diplomatic way.”

Bright echoed those praises and noted how the female bonding on stage has been experienced in preparation for the show.
“She’s doing great and everybody’s been really responsive,” she said. “The cast has bonded amazingly well, which, you know, is kind of life imitating art, which is great.

“The biggest challenge is that it’s a dialogue-heavy show; everything happens in one place. It’s a lot of jokes, so pacing is always what you are concerned with in a comedy.”

What Cleere might lack in experience in the director’s chair, she makes up for in her day job working at Smart Styles at Walmart.

“Well, I’m a cosmetologist in real life, too, so there’s the hair, and then I have a lot of experience with loss, too, and that’s a lot of what this show is,” Cleere said. “When I read the script, it touched me. It really made me want to do it.”Stereotypical salon gossip turned out to be a useful tool, as well.

“I have to remind the actors, it’s just like you’re gossiping and then they’re like, ‘oh yeah,’ and then they become best friends and you can see them light up on stage together and actually engage in that gossip within the script,” Cleere said. “It’s wonderful; they do such a great job.”
Cotellessa said the range of comedy and tragedy required of a show like “Steel Magnolias” might be too much to ask of most community theater troupes, but not this one.

“There’s a lot of laughs in the play and just some really funny lines,” said Jennifer DeMello, who plays the role of Clairee Belcher — Olympia Dukakis in the film version. “And then we’re actually crying; you’re going to see real tears on our faces, so it’s a real range. We’re hoping to take the audience on that ride with us.”

Before coming to community theater two years ago, DeMello spent her career teaching psychology and counseling in Tucson, acquiring skills that she’s found to translate well to the stage.

“It’s not just a chick flick; I think men can identify with it, too,” DeMello said. “Especially for people of a certain age that saw the movie back in the late ’80s, I think it will bring back a lot of great memories of a really wonderful movie that’s been turned into a great play.”
Opening night for “Steel Magnolias” is Friday at 7 p.m. at the theater’s home inside The Mall at Sierra Vista. It runs each Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m. until the