PlayMakers Celebrates the Strength
of Women in Steel Magnolias

PlayMakers Repertory Company's April 8-26 production of Steel Magnolias stars (from left) Kathryn Hunter-Williams as Truvy Jones,
Caroline Marques as Annelle Dupuy-Desoto, Sharon Lawrence as M'Lynn Eatenton, Elizabeth Dye as Shelby Eatenton-Latcherie,
Julia Gibson (seated) as Ouiser Boudreaux, and Thursday Farrar as Clairee Belcher (standing) (photo by HuthPhoto)

PlayMakers Repertory Company's new production of Steel Magnolias, which runs April 8-26 in UNC-Chapel Hill's Paul Green Theatre, gives us a story that is by and about strong women. In this production, it is directed by a woman and most of the creative team is comprised of women. Hallelujah!

Set in Chinquapin Parish, Louisiana, in the 1980s, the play gathers six women in Truvy Jones' beauty salon, where hair appointments become a ritual of friendship, confession, comedy, and survival. Playwright Robert Harling wrote the play out of personal grief after the death of his sister in 1985. He was able to create a tribute and a celebration of the human spirit that still gives the work its balance of wit and heartbreak. The PlayMakers Rep production's director, Lisa Rothe, paints us a solid human portrait of women holding one another up through the ordinary and the unbearable.

What keeps Steel Magnolias relevant today is the very thing that made it resonate in the first place: it understands community as a lifeline. Long before "support systems" became a familiar cultural phrase, Harling knew that people survive sorrow through humor, ritual, practical care, and the permission to fall apart in front of those who love them. The play is specifically Southern, specifically female, and specifically rooted in a small-town salon culture, yet its themes remain universal. Caregiving, illness, generational conflict, loneliness, faith, resilience, and the pressure on women to be both beautiful and unbreakable all still feel immediate. In 2026, that combination of toughness and tenderness does not feel dated at all. It feels recognizable.

PlayMakers Rep's April 8-26 presentation of Steel Magnolias stars (from left) Kathryn Hunter-Williams as Truvy Jones, Thursday Farrar
(seated) as Clairee Belcher, Caroline Marques as Annelle Dupuy-Desoto, and Julia Gibson as Ouiser Boudreaux (photo by HuthPhoto)

The six characters are written with enough contrast to make the play hum. Truvy Jones, played here by Kathryn Hunter-Williams, is the salon owner and informal ringmaster of the piece, the woman who keeps the gossip moving and the atmosphere buoyant while quietly understanding more than she lets on. Ouiser Boudreaux, played by Julia Gibson, is the resident crank, hilariously prickly and defiantly eccentric; but underneath her bark lies one of the play's most loyal hearts. Shelby Eatenton-Latcherie, played by Elizabeth Dye, brings restless energy and youthful determination to the group. Shelby is a young woman who wants to live fully on her own terms, even when life refuses to cooperate. Annelle Dupuy-Desoto, played by Caroline Marques, begins as shy and uncertain, then gradually reveals one of the evening's more surprising arcs, moving from nervous outsider to a woman with a firmer sense of self. The play works because each woman is distinct, yet no one exists in isolation; each character becomes more fully herself in the company of the others.

Two of the production's most notable presences are Thursday Farrar and Sharon Lawrence, both identified in the PlayMakers playbill as recipients of the Jeffrey Hayden Distinguished Guest Artist Award. Farrar, making her PlayMakers debut as Clairee Belcher, brings an important outside spark to the ensemble. Clairee is the former mayor's widow, socially polished, deliciously witty, and perhaps the most deceptively observant person in the room. She is the one who can turn a line into a dart without ever seeming cruel, and the role needs effortless poise as well as timing. Farrar comes to Chapel Hill with Broadway, Off-Broadway, regional, television, and film credentials, and that breadth shows in the kind of relaxed assurance that Clairee requires.

PlayMakers Rep's April 8-26 production of Steel Magnolias stars (from left) Elizabeth Dye as Shelby Eatenton-Latcherie, Julia Gibson
as Ouiser Boudreaux, Sharon Lawrence as M'Lynn Eatenton, and Kathryn Hunter-Williams as Truvy Jones (photo by HuthPhoto)

Sharon Lawrence's M'Lynn Eatenton is the play's emotional center. Lawrence is no stranger to PlayMakers or to UNC-Chapel Hill, but she is not part of the current resident acting company; like Farrar, she appears here as a distinguished guest artist. Her performance matters, because M'Lynn can never be played as merely "the mother." She must be strong, loving, controlling, frightened, generous, and exhausted all at once. The role demands the ability to hold everything in until the moment that it breaks open, and Lawrence's long stage and screen career makes her a particularly compelling presence in that part. Known widely for her television work, including NYPD Blue and Grey's Anatomy, she also brings a local connection as a UNC alumna, which gives her appearance here an added resonance for Chapel Hill audiences.

The production's design, provided by scenic designer Narelle Sissons and lighting designer Cat Tate Starmer, helps locate the audience firmly in period, without making the evening feel trapped by nostalgia. The set's aqua-and-pink palette immediately signals the 1980s, and the beauty-salon environment becomes more than backdrop; it is the play's social center, a bright, feminine, lived-in space where women come to be tended to, teased, and told the truth. Costuming by Grier Coleman and hair by wig designer Bobbie Zlotnik also feel exactly right for the time and region, capturing the Deep South sensibility of women who present themselves with care and flair, even when life behind the hairspray and polish is much messier.

Steel Magnolias stars Elizabeth Dye (left) as Shelby Eatenton-Latcherie and Sharon Lawrence as M'Lynn Eatenton in (photo by HuthPhoto)

Steel Magnolias is a story about appearances and yet it understands that appearances are never the whole story. In this world, hair appointments are also therapy sessions, comedy routines, prayer meetings, strategy sessions, and acts of love. The title remains apt. These women are expected to be decorative, gracious, and composed; but they are also asked to endure pain with impossible strength.

PlayMakers' production appears to understand that woman can be contradictory, difficult, funny, vain, caring, and brave. It is a play about how people carry one another when life turns cruel, and it provides a fresh reminder of how necessary stories of friendship, grief, and resilience continue to be to us in today's world.

Robert Harling's STEEL MAGNOLIAS (In Person at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday-Friday, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, April 11, 12 and 15-19; and 7:30 p.m. Wednesday-Friday, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, and 2 p.m. Sunday, April 22-26), directed by Lisa Rothe and starring Kathryn Hunter-Williams as Truvy Jones, Caroline Marques as Annelle Dupuy-Desoto, Thursday Farrar as Clairee Belcher, Elizabeth Dye as Shelby Eatenton-Latcherie, Sharon Lawrence as M'Lynn Eatenton, Julia Gibson as Ouiser Boudreaux (PlayMakers Repertory Company in the Paul Green Theatre in UNC-Chapel Hill's Joan H. Gillings Center for Dramatic Art). TRAILER: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M83el1CQ-ok. FEATURETTE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fam1SfvNkZc. PLAYBILL (Mobile Version): https://playmakersrep.org/playbill-for-steel-magnolias. PLAYBILL (Desktop Version): https://online.fliphtml5.com/gtelh/Steel-Magnolias-Playbill-Q6lO/. PRESENTER: https://playmakersrep.org/, https://www.facebook.com/playmakersrep, https://www.instagram.com/playmakersrep/, https://www.tiktok.com/@playmakersrep, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayMakers_Repertory_Company, https://x.com/playmakersrep, and https://www.youtube.com/@PlayMakersRepertory. 2025-26 SEASON: https://playmakersrep.org/season/2025-2026/. PRC BLOG: https://playmakersrep.org/about-us/our-blog/. VENUE: https://playmakersrep.org/about-us/paul-green-theatre and https://unchistory.web.unc.edu/building-narratives/paul-green-theatre/. DIRECTIONS/PARKING: https://playmakersrep.org/visitor-info/directions-and-parking/. STEEL MAGNOLIAS (1987 Off-Broadway, 1989 West End, and 2005 Broadway Comedy/Drama): https://www.concordtheatricals.com/p/10643/steel-magnolias, https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-show/steel-magnolias-386797, and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steel_Magnolias_(play). THE SCRIPT (excerpts): https://books.google.com/books. STUDY GUIDES: https://www.bard.org/study-guides/steel-magnolias-study-guide/ (Utah Shakespeare Festival of Cedar City, UT) and https://newstagetheatre.com/manage/wp-content/uploads/Steel-Magnolias-sg.pdf (New Stage Theatre of Jackson, MS). BACKGROUND: https://gardenandgun.com/feature/thirty-years-of-steel-magnolias/. ROBERT HARLING (Dothan, AL-born playwright and screenwriter, nee Robert M. Harling III): https://www.concordtheatricals.com/a/100269/robert-harling, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0363326/, https://www.spectra.theater/explore/artist/e53d5210-0797-47ff-b7cd-3a21f9ad2ab2, https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/robert-harling-392114, and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Harling_(writer). SHOW ADVISORY: PlayMakers Rep cautions, "Steel Magnolias contains mild language and mature themes, including the death of a character. Non-threatening gunfire sound effects are used, and a prop gun is shown briefly on stage." See the CONTENT TRANSPARENCY (SPOILERS AHEAD) section for more information. RELATED EVENTS: For details, click here and scroll down to the Special Performances section. NOTE: Arts Access, Inc. of Raleigh will audio-describe and sign-language interpret the show's 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 22nd, performance. TICKETS: $20 and up, plus taxes and fees. Click here to buy tickets. INFORMATION: 919-962-7529 or prcboxoffice@unc.edu. PLEASE DONATE TO: PlayMakers Repertory Company. Quinn Barbaza's Triangle Review Review Permalink.

WHAT: Triangle Review is a FREE weekly e-mail performing-arts and film newsletter, edited and published by Robert W. McDowell since August 2001.

TO SUBSCRIBE: To start your FREE subscription today, sign up in the subscription box at the beginning of this e-mail; or e-mail RobertM748@aol.com and type SUBSCRIBE-TR in the Subject: line. TO UNSUBSCRIBE: E-mail RobertM748@aol.com and type UNSUBSCRIBE-TR in the Subject: line.

QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS? E-mail all questions, comments, and Letters to the Editor to RobertM748@aol.com. For Letters to the Editor, please include a daytime telephone number in your e-mail.

COPYRIGHT: Editorial content in all formats © 2025 Triangle Review and the author of each article. Reproduction in any form without authorization of Triangle Review and the respective authors is prohibited. Triangle Review maintains an archive of past issues. To request copies of past articles and/or issues, e-mail RobertM748@aol.com.