Rubicon Theatre Concludes 2010-2011 Season with STEEL MAGNOLIAS

Rubicon Theatre Company concludes its 2010-2011 Season with the premiere of Robert Harling'S STEEL MAGNOLIAS, the much-loved play that explores the bonds of friendship and community, and the power of laughter to ease the burdens of troubled times. Rubicon alums Bonnie Franklin, Angela Goethals, CLARINDA ROSS, VON RAE WOOD and Stephanie Zimbalist are joined by newcomer AMY HANDELMAN under the direction of Rubicon Artistic Associate Jenny Sullivan. The show previews August 24, opens August 27, and runs through September 18.

STEEL MAGNOLIAS is a real-life inspired drama that has enjoyed successful runs both on and off Broadway, on London's West End, as a star-studded hit Hollywood feature film (Julia Roberts' first Academy Award nomination) and in countless productions around the world -- not only a favorite of American theatres, but of companies as far off as Tokyo and Stockholm. Its worldwide audiences have laughed and cried with the six-woman ensemble, women and men alike identifying with the robust mix of friendship, courage, wry irascible good humor and mischief that bear the story's tough yet vulnerable "Steel Magnolias" through life's many ups and downs.

SYNOPSIS

Truvy's Beauty Salon in Chinquapin, Louisiana is "the place to be" for contemporary (late 1980s) beauty and style - at least, for a certain small community of old friends who include Truvy herself, M'Lynn and her daughter Shelby, Clairee and Ouiser - longtime locals and old friends, one and all. They're joined in the salon by new hire Annelle, where they dish about love, life and everything in between, riding the ups and downs that daily living brings, fortified by a simple, strong bond of friendship and womanhood.

Act one opens on Shelby's wedding day, a watershed moment in the business cycle of such a hub of style and glamour as this rural Louisiana mainstay. "There's no such thing as natural beauty," Truvy instructs, and it's a good-natured mantra that lives and breathes warmth through her old-fashioned dome dryers. In their banter, the ladies account for all things great and small, with the centerpiece of their attention Shelby's upcoming nuptials, just ahead of their mixed regard for Ouiser's mangy old hound, and M'Lynn's husband's offstage proclivity for discharging firearms within the township limits, and their warm welcome for the nervous and shy newcomer Annelle. A dark note intrudes the levity when Shelby is overtaken in the salon chair by a hypoglycemic faint, and we learn that she is diabetic. Though the women are braced by reality's intrusion, their good sense, courage and levity show that they are not easily daunted.

Scene 2 opens at Christmastime, and we find the ladies in typically high spirits, decorating the salon and baiting each other with good-natured mischief. Shelby is pregnant, and blithely dismissive of sobering concerns over her health challenges. Annelle has found a new identity in the community, having shed a deadbeat husband and, after sowing a few wild oats, has found a new calling among Chinquapin's devout Baptists. With the coming holiday and Shelby's unborn child, the future looks bright.

Act 2 finds Shelby, now the mother of a toddler, getting a striking new hairdo. The ladies are energetically dishing with their usual flair, but become upset to find that Shelby is on dialysis, and that her mother is preparing to donate a kidney the next day. Despite the strain of the development, the women pull tighter together in characteristic warmth and humor - they will get through it, together.

Time has passed again when the curtain rises on Act 3, revealing a married and pregnant Annelle, The scene appears as normal as ever, until M'Lynn arrives and we learn that Shelby has tragically fallen into a diabetic coma and died. The friends bear their grief as they've shared all - together, in the moment, with courage and even humor, Truvy observing "Laughter through tears is my favorite emotion." Annelle reveals that her child will be named Shelby, and we see that, rain or shine, through laughter or tears, life goes on.

ABOUT THE CAST

Bonnie Franklin (Ouiser) is perhaps best known for her starring role as Ann Romano on the long-running series "One Day at a Time," but her first love is theatre. She has appeared on Broadway in Applause (Tony® nomination, Outer Critics Circle Award, Theatre World Award) and off-Broadway in Grace and Glory, Frankie and Johnny in the Claire de Lune, Your Own Thing and Dames at Sea. Regional theatre performances include Dancing at Lughnasa and A Delicate Balance at Rubicon Theatre Company, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? at the Pittsburgh Public Theatre, Communicating Doors at the Charlotte Repertory Theatre, Denial (World Premiere) at the Long Wharf Theatre, and starring roles in productions at Seacoast Repertory Theatre, Studio Arena Theatre, Papermill Playhouse, Cincinnati Playhouse, and the Cape and Ogunquit Playhouses. She has performed her act in clubs in New York, L.A. and throughout the country. In addition to her nine years as the Emmy®-nominated star of her popular series, Bonnie also starred in many television movies and specials, including "Margaret Sanger: Portrait of a Rebel," "The Law," "Breaking Up is Hard to Do," "Your Place or Mine" and her own CBS variety special "Bonnie and the Franklins." She was the spokesperson for Save the Children for five years and now serves on its Advisory Council. She received the Torch of Liberty Award from the Anti-Defamation League for her dedication to issues of human concern.

Stephanie Zimbalist (M'Lynn) has appeared onstage for productions at Rubicon, Falcon, Ensemble, Circus Theatricals, Pasadena Playhouse, South Coast Rep, Mark Taper, Coronet, Court, in CA; Guthrie Lab, Actors Theatre of Louisville, ART, Cleveland Playhouse, Williamstown, Long Wharf, Lucille Lortel, Westport, Cape Playhouse, Ogunquit, George Street, and Shadowland, in such plays as The Subject Was Roses, Tea at Five (garnering an Indie Award), The Spin Cycle, You Can't Take It With You, A Little Night Music, The Night of the Iguana, Defying Gravity, Dancing at Lughnasa, The Rainmaker (Robby Award), Vincent in Brixton, The Cherry Orchard, Side Man, Wonderful Town, Sylvia (collecting L.A. Premiere, Drama-Logue and Robby Awards), AdWars (winning a Drama-Logue Award), The Threepenny Opera, The Baby Dance, My One And Only, Summer and Smoke, The Tempest and Festival. Onscreen, she's appeared in "The Prophet's Game" with Dennis Hopper, "The Awakening" alongside Charlton Heston, directed by Mike Newell, and "The Magic of Lassie" with James Stewart. Selected television credits include over 30 movies including "The Gathering," "Centennial," "The Golden Moment," "The Story Lady" with Jessica Tandy, "Caroline?" (garnering a Golden Globe nomination), "Incident in a Small Town" with Walter Matthau and Harry Morgan, and "Stop the World - I Want to Get Off" for A&E, and is often recognized for her role as 'Laura Holt' in the NBC/MTM series "Remington Steele."

AMY HANDELMAN (Shelby) makes her Rubicon debut with Steel Magnolias. Other notable Los Angeles area theatre credits include: Surviving Sex at The Falcon Theatre and The Taming of the Shrew at the Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles. Amy is a member of Classical Theatre Lab and West Coast Ensemble.

CLARINDA ROSS (Truvy) has done regional theatre with the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, the ALLIANCE THEATRE (Atlanta), The Alley Theatre, Laguna Playhouse, Capital Repertory and Arkansas Repertory. Clarinda also spent four years with the Atlanta Shakespeare Company. She played the role of Shelby in Steel Magnolias nearly two decades ago, both before and after giving birth to her daughter. Clarinda toured her one-woman show From My Grandmother's Grandmother Unto Me from Vidalia, Georgia to Lillehammer, Norway and many points in between, which was later filmed for PBS. After a break to raise children, Clarinda played Ida the desperate housewife in Mark Stein's world premiere comedy Bad Apples at Rubicon, returning to appear in her one-woman show Spit Like a Big Girl directed by Jenny Sullivan. She appeared with Linda Lavin and many members of the original Broadway cast of Hollywood Arms in a remount by Carol Burnett at the Pasadena Playhouse. Clarinda created the role of Vivien in Catherine Butterfield's Kaufman and Hart award-winner The Sleeper. She made her film debut in "Blue Sky" (the last film directed by Sir Tony Richardson) with Jessica Lange and Tommy Lee Jones, and she also appeared in "Fluke" by Italian director Carlo Carlei. Other television credits include "Medium," "The District," "The Drew Carey Show," "Judging Amy" and "E.R." Clarinda is on the National Council of Actors' Equity Association.

VON RAE WOOD (Clairee) returns to Rubicon having previously appeared in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Night of the Iguana and All My Sons (Ovation Award for Best Production). Los Angeles audiences have seen her most recently as Barbara in Anteroom directed by Larry McCallister at 2100 Square Feet, as Marcie Ann Crush in Gene Franklin Smith's Rubicon directed by Jenny Sullivan at the Coast Playhouse, and as Louella Parsons in The Cat's Meow, also directed by Jenny Sullivan at the Coast and Matrix Playhouses. Von Rae is a member of Theatre of N.O.T.E. where she appeared as Rosignol in their production of Marat/Sade directed by Bradford Mays and she is also a founding member of WRITE/ACT Rep, where she has appeared in the world premieres of Old Sins, Long Shadows, Devil's Consort, Bleak House, and the musical Angel's Flight. Off-Broadway favorite roles include Crystal in the New York premiere of Lee and Marilyn Nestor's Even In Laughter at the INTAR and the premiere of Gene Franklin Smith's Created Equal at the John Houseman. Other regional roles include Isabella in Measure for Measure, Karen in The Childrens' Hour, Nancy in Oliver, and Abigail in The Crucible. Television and film roles include "Law and Order," "Coming To America," "Purple Rose of Cairo" and "Ghost Busters II."

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR

Jenny Sullivan recently directed Rubicon's Trying, Spit Like a Big Girl, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, You Can't Take It With You (Indie Award), Hamlet (Indie Award), One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Tuesdays with Morrie. Other Rubicon credits include Happy Days with Robin Pearson Rose; Defying Gravity with Harold Gould and Stephanie Zimbalist; Art (Indie Award) with Cliff DeYoung, Joseph Fuqua and Bruce Weitz; Dancing at Lughnasa (Indie Award) with Susan Clark, Bonnie Franklin and Stephanie Zimbalist; The Rainmaker with Stephanie Zimbalist and John Bennett Perry; The Little Foxes with Linda Purl; two casts of Ancestral Voices; Love Letters with Jack Lemmon and Felicia Farr; and Old Wicked Songs with Harold Gould and Joseph Fuqua.
Other theatres: The Dresser with Len Cariou and Granville Van Dusen at Manitoba Theatre Centre in Canada; The Clean House (Indie Award), A Dublin Carol and The Memory of Water for Ensemble Theatre of Santa Barbara; the West Coast Premiere of Jane Martin's Flags; Death of a Salesman with Stuart Margolin and Wendy Phillips in Montgomery, Alabama; The Falcon Theatre production of The Memoirs of Abraham Lincoln with Granville Van Dusen; and the premiere of Tom Dugan's Nazi Hunter - Simon Wiesenthal.
Jenny was Associate Director for the L.A. production of The Vagina Monologues and also directed premieres of Ad Wars with David Dukes and Stephanie Zimbalist; The Cat's Meow with Joseph Fuqua; The Awful Grace of God: A Portrait of RFK; and Bicoastal Woman. Her World Premiere production of The Baby Dance began at Pasadena Playhouse and then moved to Williamstown Theatre Festival, Long Wharf Theatre (CT Critics' Directing Award) and the Lucille Lortel Theatre Off-Broadway. In six seasons at Williamstown, Jenny directed MACS (A Macaroni Requiem), Defying Gravity, Hotel Oubliette, Dirt and The Ferry Back. Other regional credits include The Elephant Man for San Jose Rep, Listen for Wings at Access Theatre, and Mother Earth/Father Sky and The Shadow Box at the Lobero Theatre in Santa Barbara.
Jenny's film credits include "Access All Areas" and "The Next Best Thing" (in which she had the good fortune to direct her father Barry). Rubicon produced the World Premiere of Jenny's play J for J with Jeff Kober and the late great John Ritter. The production subsequently played at the Court Theatre in L.A.
Jenny was appointed Rubicon's first Artistic Associate in 2003.

ABOUT THE PRODUCTION

The production team includes Scenic and Lighting Designer Thomas S. Giamario (Ovation Award-winner for Bus Stop at Rubicon), T. Theresa Scarano (prop designer and set dressing), Pamela Shaw (Costume Designer), Marty Kopulsky (Hair and Make-up Designer), Rod Menzies (Dialect Coach) and Kenneth Hobbs (Sound Designer). Kathleen J. Parsons and Tobias Peltier are Production Stage Managers.
Dates, Prices and Special Performances

STEEL MAGNOLIAS opens at the Rubicon Theatre on Wednesday, August 24 at 7:00 p.m. Performances continue through September 18, Wednesdays at 2:00 and 7:00 p.m., Thursdays and Fridays at 8:00 p.m., Saturdays at 2:00 and 8:00 p.m., and Sundays at 2:00 p.m. Three special "Sunday Style Night" performances have been added September 4, 11 and 18, after which a special demonstration will be offered by Billy Yamaguchi of Inner Chi Salon and Yamaguchi's. (For those performances, tickets are 2-for-1 (or $19.50 each) with prior purchase of a product or service at the salon. Ticket prices are $39 to $59, depending on the day of the week. Tickets for full-time students age 25 and under (with ID) are $25. Special "Girls' Night Out" pricing is available for groups of 12 or more.

Tickets for STEEL MAGNOLIAS may be purchased in person through the Rubicon Theatre Company BOX OFFICE, located at 1006 E. Main Street (Laurel entrance). To charge by phone, call (805) 667-2900. Or visit Rubicon online at www.rubicontheatre.org. Twenty-four-hour-a-day ticketing is available online, thanks to a grant from the IRVINE FOUNDATION's Regional Arts Initiative.

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