.Bring Kleenex

The 1980s is an era remembered as the rise of the yuppie, the Reagan years, an extraordinary music scene, and classic stories documenting the daily lives of middle-class America. Standing tall among those classics is a timeless play that takes our hearts into its hands and gives us a slice of women’s lives in a small Louisiana town.

Mountain Community Theater is bringing that play, Steel Magnolias, to Felton’s historic Park Hall for a four-week run.

Set entirely within Truvy’s Louisiana beauty parlor, Steel Magnolias explores themes of community, Southern life and overcoming tragedy. Its all-female cast, portraying six loving and hilarious women, stunned director Peter Gelblum throughout the rehearsal process.

“There have been wonderful scenes where everybody’s crying, everybody on stage, everybody sitting at the table, you know, during rehearsal watching. We had to buy boxes of Kleenex with it for the stage manager,” Gelblum says.

This bittersweet comedy’s range of laughs and hard-hitting moments of sadness show how these flowery southern belles face hardships, come together and show up for each other as steel magnolias to overcome any challenge.

“It’s got the two elements of theater that I look for most, which is both laughter and tears. It’s got comedy and it’s got some very strong emotions too, and that’s the kind of thing I like to see in a play,” says Gelblum, who has been directing with MCT for 15 years.

The 1987 play, famously written in only 10 days by Robert Harling as a tribute to his late sister, plays March 21 through April 13. The women bringing this academy award-winning story to life are Manirose Bobisuthi, Sarah Mitchler, MarNae Taylor, Lilian Bogovich, Kate Cunningham and Emerson Kapure.

“If you’ve seen the movie and didn’t like it, come see the play because I think it’s better. And if you did like it, come see what the movie was based on, come see the genesis of it!” Gelblum says.

Steel Magnolias runs March 21–April 13, Fri.–Sat. at 8pm and Sun. at 2pm. The run includes a community night on March 22 and a post-show talk back on March 30. Tickets are $25+; visit mctshows.org.