'Steel Magnolias' to open at Sharon Playhouse Aug. 30

"Steel Magnolias,” “a beautiful homage to women and female relationships,” will start at the Sharon Playhouse Aug. 30.

The play, written by Robert Harling, is loosely based on his sister who died from complications of Type 1 diabetes after giving birth to a son.

“Steel Magnolias” centers around six friends in a small southern town who meet weekly at a beauty parlor owned by Truvy, played by Jen Cody. Cody previously acted at the Playhouse in Something Rotten last summer. “I have just been dying to come back,” she said, and to “brush up on her Southern dialect.”

Emma Simon who plays Truvy’s assistant, Annelle, said of the play, “I have wanted to work on this play for so long. It is such a beautiful, complex, devastating, hilarious story of female friendships and relationships.”

“Steel Magnolias” deals with “family, illness and personal loss” as the friends support each other through conflicts, relationships and tragedy.

Under the direction of Jackson Gay, Cody, Simon and actresses Susan Cella as “Clairee,” Etta Grover as “Shelby,” Marinell Crippen as “M’Lynn,” and Sharon resident Liza Vann as “Ouiser,” present a play that Sharon Playhouse’s Artistic Director Carl Andress says “perfectly balances laugh-out-loud humor and heartfelt emotions.”

The play will run from Friday, Aug. 30 to Sunday, Sept. 8. For more information or to purchase tickets visit https://www.sharonplayhouse.org/steelmagnolias.