Lexington Live actors excited to perform ‘Steel Magnolias’
No actor wants to mess up their lines during a live performance.
That has never been truer than with the cast of Lexington Live’s upcoming production of “Steel Magnolias,” a classic play and movie of the same name, especially among Southern women who know the lines word for word.
Flub one of most quotable lines, such as Shelby’s “I would rather have 30 minutes of wonderful than a lifetime of nothing special,” and you’ll likely get immediate feedback from the audience, said Julie Dagenhardt, who plays Shelby Eatenton-Latcherie, and Claire Abercrombie, who plays Annelle Dupuy-Desoto.
We have to be spot on with our lines,” Abercrombie said. “This is one of the most quotable plays. People know these quotes, and they will say the lines out loud with you. They know if you get something wrong.”
Added Dagenhardt: “I have never had a director and a stage manager be so nitpicky about the lines as I have with this play, but it has to be that way. You don’t want to mess up when Clariee says, ‘If you can’t say anything nice about anybody, come sit by me!’ ”
They understand the typical audience member’s obsession with this play, its characters and the lines because they feel the same way about “Steel Magnolias.”
“It’s timeless,” Abercrombie said. “It’s comforting.”
The play, written by Robert Harling, will be performed at Arts | Theatre 202 Sept.15-17 and 22-24. It’s based on Harling’s experience with his sister’s death. The play is a comedy-drama about the bond among a group of Southern women in the fictional Chinquapin Parish in northwest Louisiana. The characters are witty and intelligent and share an unshakable bond.
The play opens in Truvy’s in-home beauty parlor, where a group of women regularly gather. The plot covers events over the next three years relating to Shelby’s health and how the women cope with their conflicts, while remaining friends: Shelby’s decision to have a child despite jeopardizing her health, Clairee’s friendship with the curmudgeon Ouiser; Annelle’s transformation from a shy, anxious newcomer in town to a good-time girl and then revival-tent Christian, and Truvy’s relationships with the men in her family. Although the main storyline involves Shelby, her mother, M’Lynn, and Shelby’s medical battles, the group’s underlying friendship is prominent throughout the drama.
Dagenhart has always been drawn to the character Shelby whether watching the play or the movie, although she said at this point in her life as a mother of three she can relate more to Shelby’s mother, M’Lynn Eatenton.
“Shelby is still my favorite character,” said the Friedberg Elementary School fifth-grade teacher, who has been in several Lexington Live plays. “I didn’t think I would be able to play her now because I am older than Shelby is. she’s so headstrong. She is clear what she wants out of life. I love the mother-daughter relationship. It’s like me and my mom. We love each other to death, but we will fight. But we love more, like Shelby and M’Lynn.”
Abercrombie, a fourth-grade teacher at Charles England Intermediate School, said the cast has bonded well, and that will come across in their performance. Almost every cast member and the director have already performed in the play before, she added.
“You can connect with these characters,” she said. “I think that is why so mnay people have done this play before. … It’a a feeling of womanhood.”
The address for Arts | Theatre 202, is 202 N. Main St., Lexington. Showtimes are 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 15, 16, 22, and 23, and two shows will be performed on Sept. 17 and 24 at 2 p.m.
General admission tickets are $20 for adults and $15 for seniors (62+) and children (18 and under). Tickets can be purchased through the website at www.lexingtonlive.org.
Steffanie Vaughan is the director, Melissa Peller is the stage manager and Avery Daniels is the costume designer.
“To this day, it still astonishes me the impact this play and/or movie have on people regardless of their unique backgrounds and life experiences,” Vaughan said. “Certain quotes drop easily into everyday situations. Every person knows at least one of these women. They are not characters in a play; they are real women who have graced us with their strength, love, humor, and even a little scolding when necessary.”
Other cast members are: Kelcy Choplin as Truvy Jones; Amy McGrath as Clairee Belcher; Heidi Shafer as M’Lynn Eatenton; and Michele Groneck as Ouiser Boudreaux.
