City Theatre Austin Presents STEEL MAGNOLIAS Next Month

Fall in love with the ladies of Truvy's Beauty Salon all over again! City Theatre Austin will open the 2023 season with Robert Harling's comedic gem, Steel Magnolias. Under the direction of Artistic Director Andy Berkovsky, performances run March 10 - 26 at Genesis Fellowship Hall.

These humorous words of wisdom sum up Robert Harling's 1987 off-Broadway comedy sensation and subsequent smash film Steel Magnolias. In the haven of a Louisiana beauty parlor, where anybody who's "anybody" gets their hair done, six distinctly different women come together to share secrets, gossip, and bare their souls learning to embrace themselves, and the future, with love and laughter. The outspoken, wise-cracking Truvy dispenses shampoos and free advice to the shy yet determined Annelle, the curmudgeonly Ouiser, the eccentric yet sensible Miss Clairee, and the respected and admired M'Lynn and her daughter Shelby, the prettiest girl in town. Filled with hilarious Southern repartee and humorously revealing verbal collisions, the play draws on the town's underlying strength - and love - that gives the story and the characters the special qualities that make them truly touching, funny, and marvelously amiable company...in good times and in bad.

"I'm not crazy! I've just been in a bad mood for forty years!" - Ouiser

In 1987, when Robert Harling announced that he had written a play, his Louisiana parents were dumbfounded. A struggling New York actor with a never-used law degree, their son hadn't been known to compose anything more creative than a college term paper. Then there was his play's subject matter. Just six months after the death of his 32-year-old sister from complications of diabetes, Harling was telling the story of her death and transforming it into a comedy. "I don't think my family knew how to react," admits Harling. "It was sort of like, 'You've written a comedy about that?'" That was then. And now, Steel Magnolias has become one of the most widely produced plays of all time. Critics raved, calling the play "A joy" and "deeply moving and skillfully crafted." Harling went on to adapt the script into a screenplay for the original film version with an all - star cast that included Julia Roberts, Sally Field, Dolly Parton, and Shirley MacLaine. He later concentrated his work as a screenwriter, creating screenplays for the films The First Wives Club and The Evening Star, the sequel to Terms of Endearment. His current projects include authoring the book for the stage musical of Soapdish and the book for a musical version of the film Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day.

Director Andy Berkovsky celebrates his 40th year in theatre with Steel Magnolias and his seventeenth year as City Theatre Artistic Director. He has directed numerous productions including the award-winning and nominated The Grapes of Wrath, Into the Woods, Agnes of God, August: Osage County, Glengarry Glen Ross, Frozen, and The Boys Next Door, as well the Austin premiere Love Alone and The Little Dog Laughed. The production features the talented cast of Jennifer Gonzalez (Truvy), Angelina Castillo (Annelle), Terri Bennett (Clairee), Judith Laird (Ouiser), Tracy Hurd (M'Lynn) and Natalie Clark (Shelby). City Theatre is celebrating its 17th anniversary season of live theatre entertainment. CTC is an Austin-based, not-for-profit arts organization and is sponsored in part by the Austin Creative Alliance and the Cultural Arts Division of the City of Austin. Founded in 2006, the company has been recognized by the Austin Critics Table Awards, the B. Iden Payne Awards, the Central Texas Excellence in Theatre Awards, BroadwayWorld Austin, Central Texas Live Theatre, and has twice been voted "Best Theatre Company" by Austin American-Statesman's Austin 360. CTC is dedicated in providing a quality, reputable, and diverse public theatre and Stage Entertainment experience that is accessible to all artists and the entire Austin community. CTC continues to offer its student and group discount ticket program for any show. Put a little theatre in your life!

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