Steel Magnolias

JRT's production of Steel Magnolias celebrates the 35th anniversary of the world premiere of this perennial favorite.
It’s the mid-1980s in small town Chinquapin Parish in Louisiana, where Saturday mornings at Truvy’s beauty salon are strictly reserved for the ladies of the neighborhood. This includes Clairee (Krista Wharton), a wealthy matriarch and recent widow who loves football; Ouiser (Kari Tuthill), the town curmudgeon who confesses she has been in a “bad mood for 40 years;” and M’Lynn (Joy Nagy), the mother of three grown children who is the administrator at a local mental guidance center.
The shop’s proprietor Truvy (Diane Taveau) and her newly hired assistant Annelle (Kate Hollenbeck) round out the Saturday regulars, and together they exchange recipes, lots of town gossip, and plenty of advice.
Shelby (Catherine Squibb), the daughter of M’Lynn, frequently stops in on Saturdays. When Shelby announces she is having a baby despite warnings from her doctor AND her mother, the women unite together—true steel magnolias—around M’Lynn and show that through “laughter and tears,” life is defined by the people who surround us.