Dep’t of Theatre Presents Steel Magnolias April 7-8

The Cottey College Department of Theatre is proud to present Robert Harling’s Steel Magnolias on Friday and Saturday, April 7-8. The curtain will rise at 8 p.m. each evening in the Auditorium of the Haidee and Allen Wild Center for the Arts.

Six women share laughter through tears, strength through adversity and tolerance through friendship…whilst changing hairstyles, swapping recipes and dealing with heartache. Based on the author’s real life experience of the sacrifices of his sister and mother, Steel Magnolias chronicles the lives of these six women in a small Louisiana town in the 1980s. The action is set entirely within the confines of Truvy’s beauty salon — a carport converted into a home salon by Truvy’s husband as, according to Truvy, “The last romantic thing he ever did for me.”

The story begins on the morning of Shelby’s wedding to Jackson and covers events over the next three years, including Shelby’s decision to have a child despite having Type 1 diabetes and the complications that result from this decision. Steel Magnolias is the story of Truvy, Annelle, Clairee, Shelby, M’Lynn, and Ouiser. It is a story of a beautician, a caterpillar waiting to become a butterfly, a Southern Lady, a mother, a daughter, and a cantankerous curmudgeon who has a heart of gold. It is the story of friendship and camaraderie, love and compassion, heartbreak and healing. It is the story of your mothers, your sisters, your wives, your daughters, your aunts, and your friends.

Tickets for Steel Magnolias are $5 for adults and $4 for those over age 64 or under age 18. Tickets will be available at the door the evenings of the performance.

The Center for the Arts is on the northeast corner of Austin and Tower streets in Nevada, Missouri.