The Community Theatre of Jacksonville will present Steel Magnolias, by Robert Harling, on March 3-5 in partnership with the Jacksonville Community Center.
Showtimes are 7:30 p.m. March 3 and 4 and 2 p.m. March 5 at the Jacksonville Community Center, 5 Municipal Drive in Jacksonville.
Tickets are $15 for adults; $13 for senior citizens 65 and older and active-duty military personnel; and $10 for children younger than 12. For reservations, call (501) 286-3638.
Chip McAfee of Jacksonville will direct the play, which was first produced in 1987 and opened off-Broadway at the WPA Theatre in New York City. The play was adapted as a film by the same name in 1988 and released in 1989, with the screenplay also by Harling.
Many people may know the movie version of the story of the six women who live in Chinquapin, Louisiana, and meet weekly for their standing hair appointments at the local beauty salon. They develop a strong friendship as they deal with day-to-day life and, finally, the tragic death of the youngest of the group. The movie starred Julia Roberts as Shelby, Sally Field as M’Lynn, Shirley MacLaine as Ouiser, Olympia Dukakis as Clairee, Dolly Parton as Truvy and Daryl Hannah as Annelle.
McAfee, assistant director of communications at the Arkansas Department of Career Education in Little Rock, has been involved in theater since he was in high school and college. He has an Associate of Arts degree in theater from Texarkana College in Texarkana, Texas, as well as a Master of Science degree in instructional technology and a Bachelor of Arts degree in communications from Texas A&M University in College Station.
“I am very glad to be a part of the Community Theatre of Jacksonville and have the opportunity to help bring the theater experience to both those who want to be onstage and those who want to see a great show,” McAfee said.
“I’m excited about the future of this theater group. We are going to have a lot of fun doing a lot of amazing shows. I think a good community theater only strengthens a town’s presence and pride.
“Directing Steel Magnolias has been a wonderful experience. These small-cast shows are so much fun because you really get to know each other and have such a good time together working on the show.”
Shann Nobles of Cabot, president of the Community Theatre of Jacksonville Board of Directors, has a role in the play. She portrays M’Lynn Eatenton, a prominent career woman who is concerned about her daughter, Shelby, and Shelby’s decision to have a baby despite health complications caused by her diabetes.
“I have played M’Lynn two times before. I’ve always loved that character,” Nobles said.
“I have seen the play before, as well as the movie. I think I saw the movie, which is a little different than the play, before I saw the play,” she said.
“This is the 30th anniversary of the play, which opened in 1987, so that’s why we chose to do it,” she said, noting that the community theater group presented The Best Christmas Pageant Ever in 2015, but “took off 2016” as the board reorganized.
“We hope to do three shows this year, beginning with Steel Magnolias,” she said.
Nobles is a news producer at KATV Channel 7 in Little Rock. She became interested in theater when she was a student at Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, where she received a degree in journalism.
Other members of the cast include the following:
• Brandy Everett of Ward appears as Truvy Jones, owner of the beauty salon where the ladies of the town gather every Saturday morning for a hairdo and a chance to visit.
“This is the first time I’ve been on stage in 27 years,” Everett said, laughing. “Theater was my passion in high school.
“The last time I was in a show was 27 years ago in Cabot. I was in Grease. I’ve also been in Lil’ Abner.”
Everett said her daytime job is that of an artist; she also takes care of her grandson.
• Gabi Baltzley of Little Rock plays Shelby Eatenton-Latcherie, described as “the prettiest girl in town” and beloved by all.
“I’ve done shows at the Studio Theatre and the Community Theatre of Little Rock, but this is the first time I’ve done one with the Community Theatre of Jacksonville. I am having a lot of fun with it,” she said.
“I’ve seen the movie multiple times,” said Baltzley, who is a graduate of OBU with a degree in musical theater and teaches theater and stagecraft at Jacksonville Lighthouse Charter School.
“My character has a lot of lines,” she said, smiling. “I’m onstage in every scene, except in Act II, after I die.”
• Tracy Courage of North Little Rock portrays Annelle Dupuy-Desoto, who has only been in Chinquapin for a short time and has some secrets.
“This is the second time I’ve done something with this group,” Courage said, adding that she is active in several other community theater troupes in central Arkansas. “I have never done this play.
“My character, Annelle, is very fragile. She is in an unpredictable relationship and is looking for acceptance. She finds it at Truvy’s beauty shop. She becomes confident, and through her friendships with others at the beauty shop, she just blossoms.”
Courage said she did theater in high school, “but I was too shy in college,” she said.
“Many years went by, and my daughter expressed an interest in the theater, so I became involved, too,” Courage said. “The first show I ever did as an adult was with the Community Theatre of Little Rock in The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, and Gabi [Baltzley] was the stage manager. She is the one who told me about the Community Theatre of Jacksonville.
“Then I did The Best Christmas Pageant Ever with the Community Theater of Jacksonville. Both times, I played Edna Buchanan, the church lady.
“Steel Magnolias is a wonderful show, … a wonderful experience for me.”
Courage is director of communications at the University of Arkansas-Pulaski Technical College in North Little Rock.
• Patty Moneagle of Jacksonville plays Clairee Belcher, widow of the mayor.
“I was active in the theater back in the ’80s, especially at [The Arkansas Repertory Theatre]. It was my passion in high school,” Moneagle said.
“I am having a good time with my character,” she said, adding that she had seen the movie before but not the play.
Moneagle works at Marshalls in Cabot.
• Marsha “Marti” Ullendorf of Jacksonville appears as Ouiser Boudreaux, described as a wealthy curmudgeon who lives next door to M’Lynn and shares ownership of a large magnolia tree, which becomes a bone of contention.
Ullendorf served in the Air Force and retired as a technical sergeant in 1992 after 21 1/2 years of service. She continues to work at the Little Rock Air Force Base, where she is the registrar for the C-130 training school, a position she has held for 17 years.
“The last time I was onstage was about 20 years ago. That was in Biloxi, Mississippi,” she said.
“I got ate up with [theater]. I did four plays in one year, … all musicals,” she said.
“After I got married, we lived in England. My late husband, Capt. Randy Ullendorf, was on active duty [in the Air Force]. I was working as a civil service employee at the medical center while he worked as a physician assistant in family practice,” Ullendorf said.
“While we were there, I played Golda in Fiddler on the Roof, presented by The Eagle’s Nest Repertory Co. at the Officers Club at Royal Air Force Lakenheath near London,” she said.
“We moved here in 1996, and this is the first time I have been onstage since I’ve been here,” she said. She said she already knew Nobles, who encouraged her to audition for the play.
“She told me, ‘You’d make a good Ouiser,’” Ullendorf said.
“This is great fun,” she said. “It’s good comedic relief.”