The comfort of familiarity: Maryville College Theatre prepares stage production of ‘Steel Magnolias’
Oct. 9, 2024
As far as theater goes, “Steel Magnolias” is comfort food.
Intimately familiar, always reassuring, unfailingly optimistic, it’s a stage play that was eclipsed by the film version, and what a version it was: As a friend group of women in a small Southern town dealing with humorous minutiae and universal tragedy, Sally Field, Dolly Parton, Shirley MacLaine, Daryl Hannah, Olympia Dukakis and Julia Roberts are iconic.
And that, says Maryville College Visiting Lecturer of Theatre Andy Vaught, makes “Steel Magnolias” the ideal autumn MC Theatre Department production Oct. 17-20 at the Clayton Center for the Arts.
“I don’t think anyone can talk about Steel Magnolias without thinking of the movie,” Vaught said. “It’s pretty embedded, especially for someone like me who grew up in Louisiana. But it’s a very funny play! And I also wanted to choose a play that I felt would be welcoming to everyone. It’s comfortable, it’s kind, and it provides our actors a great chance to shine.”
And it gives Maryville College students a chance to make the roles their own. While there are big shoes to fill for the main cast — Colin Hood ’25 (as Parton’s Truvy), Olivia Cameron ’25 (as M’Lynn, the role made famous by Field), Eden Carnes ’27 (as Annelle, played by Hannah), Meredith Wynn ’26 (as Clairee, played by Dukakis), Sasha Hoenie ’26 (as the sharp-tongued Ouiser, played to magnificence by MacLaine) and Kalli Wilson ’27 (as Shelby, played by Julia Roberts) — the characters are so beloved that drastic changes from the parts in the film would be frowned upon, Vaught said.
But the well of classic storytelling elements that can be drawn upon by the students inhabiting those roles, he added, is the stuff that great plays are made of.
“It’s about focusing on the rawness of the emotion,” he said. “These women feel and feel deeply. And the Easter eggs! There are so many well-placed hints and foreshadowing throughout this show. It’s an unexpected yet really engaging puzzle.”
For Hood, a Theatre Studies major whose MC career has already included stand-out roles in past productions like “Revolt of the Beavers” and “Oliver!,” landing a part made famous by his self-professed idol was more than he expected and everything he wanted. As a multi-talented actor whose fluidity makes him at home in both masculine and feminine roles, he originally auditioned for the roles of Clairee or Ouiser, even though Truvy was whom his heart was with.
“However, when I got the cast list and saw that I was Truvy, my knees gave out! I couldn’t even function, I was just giggly and so excited. I was running around telling everybody, and I called my mom the first second I knew,” Hood said. “It was a huge surprise, because I genuinely did not think I was even being considered for that role. And the whole reason that I love Truvy as a character is because the most iconic and well-known portrayal of her is by Dolly Parton. When you watch the movie, you’re like, ‘How in the world was this not written for Dolly Parton?’
“I generally don’t think that Robert Harling had Dolly in mind when writing the show, of course, because she didn’t do Broadway, and she didn’t do plays. So when you watch the movie, you’re thinking, ‘She’s not even acting … that’s just how Dolly is,’ with all the famous little one-liners and the quips and just the laugh. That super bubbly and bright personality is Dolly Parton, so getting to play this role that was made famous by literally my idol is a dream come true. I don’t even know how to put it into words how grateful I am and how exciting this is.”
One change from the film that the play makes is the nature of the narrative. While the film was filled with supporting actors in male roles, there are no male characters in the play, Vaught said.
“One thing the play does that the movie does not, is focus exclusively on the women,” he said. “There are no male characters in the show, so the conflict functions exclusively within this group of friends. And while there’s this old stereotype that women are really the ones in charge with this whole idea of ‘happy wife, happy life,’ that’s not really part of this play.
“What this play does so well is that it carves out an independent life for each of these women. The men exist, but almost like shadows for their real journey. It’s one of the most interesting elements of the play. These characters keep the world going, even when the world is falling apart, and we’re really looking at where the cracks in their friendships show. No play is about people getting along, so we have to find the moments where they are more metal and less floral.”
Written by Harling in 1987, the movie was turned into a Southern comedy-drama two years later, and although it received mixed reviews at the time, it’s since become something of a classic. By weaving cultural elements of Southern small towns with back-and-forth repartee for comedic effect and the archetypal tales of female perseverance through tragedy, “Steel Magnolias” set the bar for future films and television shows that revolved around themes of sisterhood and female resilience.
“There is a recurring sentiment in this play that women must be strong for everyone, because they are the only ones who can essentially withstand the slings and arrows of life,” Vaught said. “On top of that, I think there is the idea that snark, even gallows humor, plays into this resilience. These characters do not stop joking. They cannot stop joking.”
That a friend group is at the center of the play, which itself is populated by actors who make up their own distinct friend group off-stage, allows for parallels between reality and fiction that does more for young thespians than simply giving them parts to play, Vaught added.
“We are talking a lot about cycles in rehearsals: Each of the characters in the play faces challenges, falls, and finds a way to keep going,” he said. “They are supported in that journey, sometimes roughly, by their friends. I think an understanding that life brings numerous difficulties and that friends, even difficult ones, are essential to survival is key to this show.
“Plus, I always strive to create a fun room to rehearse a play, and this play combined with our theater students who are already very close, makes the rehearsal room extra special.”
Special, and so very natural, Hood added. He’s known Hoenie and Wynn since high school; has acted in theatrical productions around the community with Carnes for years; and Cameron was one of the first friends he made at Maryville College, he said. And there are moments during rehearsals, he said, when it feels as if art really is imitating life.
“We’re all already really good friends because we’re all in the same major, and we see each other in classes all the time, so it’s very similar in the way that they all come together and hang out and see each other in the beauty shop and how we see one another on a regular basis,” Hood said. “The thing I noticed the most about their relationships that kind of fits into the way I show love to people is I love to poke fun at people. Like, I love a playful insult.
“And so the fact that all the characters in this play kind of get to throw little one-liners out there and are poking fun at their friends is very much my love language. It’s been really fun to get to do that on stage with people that I care about and hang out with all the time. It’s just been really, really cool to get to do this with all of my best friends, because honestly, it doesn’t even feel like acting. A lot of the times when we’re up there just bantering and having fun and messing with each other, it feels very real because it is … and it’s so much fun.”
“Steel Magnolias” will be staged at 8 p.m. Oct. 17, 18 and 19, and at 2 p.m. Oct. 20, in the Haslam Family Flexible Theatre of the Clayton Center for the Arts on the MC campus. Tickets range from $10 to $15 and can be purchased online at www.claytonartscenter.com or at the box office, and MC faculty, staff and students are admitted free. Box office hours are from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday-Friday. As is a tradition begun by Vaught, MC Theatre students have selected a local nonprofit to partner with for the production, and for “Steel Magnolias,” that organization is Haven House, which provides 24-hour support in the form of a hotline, advocacy services and a shelter for victims of domestic violence. Haven House representatives will be in the foyer prior to the performances to provide more information and solicit donations and volunteer support. For more information, call 865-981-8590.
