BRATTLEBORO-Set in a home-based beauty salon in the fictional small town of Chinquapin, Louisiana, the play Steel Magnolias by Robert Harling tells the story of a tightly knit group of women who support one another through life’s joys and sorrows, all the while making sure they look their best. The story is based on the life of Harling’s sister.
Rebekah Kersten, director and BUHS teacher of English and theater, said she has long known about Steel Magnolias, which the Brattleboro Union High School Players will present the group’s fall play this weekend.
“I’ve known about Steel Magnolias for most of my life, but I didn’t start seriously considering it as a show to direct until last spring,” said. “I was sifting through scripts, thinking about how many strong female performers we have right now, and this show seemed like the perfect choice.”
The writing, she said, is “just so good — these women are strong, funny, caring, and real.”
Alexandra Aither, a senior, plays M’Lynn Eatenton, whose daughter Shelby has Type 1 diabetes. “I heard last year that this would be the fall play,” she said. “I was familiar with the play and watched the movie. The play features women exclusively and shows what it feels like to be a woman. It’s an amazing process to be part of.”
Aither has extensive stage experience, both at BUHS and New England Youth Theatre. She plans to study theater in college.
“I’m currently involved in a very lengthy process, memorizing six monologues for auditions,” she said. “Each school requires something different.”
Elise Denaples-Hiler, a sophomore, portrays Truvy Jones, proprietor of the beauty salon, a role played in the film version by the late Dolly Parton.
“I knew very little about this show,” Denaples-Hiler said. “I was unsure about making the commitment. Then I watched the movie [and] wondered, ‘Why isn’t this story being told more?’ With Dolly Parton’s death — she was one of the stars — I watched it knowing about her.”
By happenstance, Kersten said, she had scheduled auditions for what turned out to be two days after Parton died.
“Her passing was uppermost in several of the actors’ minds at the time,” she said, calling the coincidence “rather astonishing.”
“Many of my actors are familiar with Dolly’s music and her films, and they have all expressed a desire to make this show the best it can be to honor Dolly’s memory, her artistry, and her humanity,” Kersten said.
Vera Muratori, also a sophomore, portrays Annelle Dupuy-Desoto, Truvy’s assistant. “The way Annelle’s character develops is so interesting, as she integrates into this pre-existing community,” Muratori said. “All the emotion, such strong women. It’s such a beautiful story.”
Lotte Gannon-Kurowski, a senior, plays Shelby Eatenton-Latcherie, M’Lynn’s daughter, whom, in Act I, is about to be married. Shelby expresses a determination to have children even though her Type 1 diabetes makes pregnancy potentially fatal.
“I’ve auditioned for every BUHS show available. Also at NEYT. I’ve been cast in three out of four,” Gannon-Kurowski said. “It’s been a great experience every time, all the community-building, all of the work and emotion that go into performances.”
Val Allen, a senior, plays DJ. “This is voice acting,” Allen said of the role. “Instead of being on stage delivering lines, I’m backstage, speaking, radio-effect.”
Drea Kurowski, a sophomore, portrays Clairee Belcher, a widow, who she describes as “sassy and funny.”
Ivana Greening, also a sophomore, plays Ouiser Boudreaux, an eccentric millionaire. Elsa Anders, in ninth grade, is understudy to Ouiser.
This cast has an incredibly tight bond, according to Kersten, “which is wonderful and absolutely essential for this show. It helps that most of them worked together on last year’s fall play, so they already knew each other, which serves as a good foundation.
“Some of the actors are best friends in real life,” Kersten continued, “while others have known each other since kindergarten, and two of them are sisters. When you have that much real-life history and knowledge, it’s easy to translate that into character relationships onstage.”
The ensemble nature of Steel Magnolias “contributes to the tight bond as well, because most of the actors are in most of the scenes, experiencing the work together in real time,” Kersten said.
For every show she directs, she makes a point of developing the necessary background information.
“I always spend time going through the script before rehearsal, making notes about what the cast and I will discuss as part of our ‘getting to know the world of the play’ process,” Kersten said. “I also think about what the central image or metaphor is for the show and how to explore that with the cast.”
The actors have been working with the Southern accent from the beginning, Kersten said.
“During auditions, I played some clips of real people from northwestern Louisiana speaking words from the play,” she said, and she had the actors “try using the accent in that moment to see how they would do.”
“I also found a course online that had downloadable recordings, pronunciation guides, and interviews with residents from the region,” she continued, “so we’ve spent some rehearsals working through those materials, and the actors have practiced on their own as well.”
With so much effort invested in a show, it’s natural that actors hope to have an effect on the audience.
“Every woman should go somewhere very public and watch how men move, how they take up space,” said Aither. “As a woman in a school setting, I see my male counterparts take up space in ways I never would.
“We’re taught to be so considerate,’ she continued. “Every woman should watch this show. This play is an invitation to women to take up more space in life.”
“People don’t understand how good they have it until something happens,” Greening said. “This is real life.”
“This play is such a beautiful representation of women, their sense of community and understanding,” Kurowski said. “We have individual points of view. Every woman is her own person. We are real people.”
“There are sweet moments, somber moments, scary moments,” Anders said. “[It shows] the roller coaster that is womanhood. The sisterhood that these women have [is inspiring].”
Kersten hopes the audience sees these women as the true steel magnolias that they are.
“They are women in community with each other, who are strong, intelligent, and witty, whether or not they are what society thinks they should be,” she said. “They are enough as they are, and they are stronger together than apart. They may bend, but they do not break.
“While they may strive to be as beautiful as a magnolia on the outside, inside they have wills of steel,” Kersten said.
The BUHS Players will present Steel Magnolias at Brattleboro Union High School, Fairground Road, Brattleboro on Friday, Oct. 16, at 7 p.m., and Saturday, Oct. 17, at 2 and 7 p.m. Tickets for all seats will be $10, payable at the door. For more information, email Rebekah Kersten.
This Arts item was submitted to The Commons.