One of the best parts about community theatre is the element of surprise. When I go to see a Broadway show I expect the talent to be top-tier and the production to be incredible but with community theatre, especially a company I haven’t seen before, I never really know what I’m going to get. For example, on Saturday I was invited to see a small production of Steel Magnolias put on by Millcreek Community Theatre and it was a wonderful experience I won’t soon forget.

Believe it or not I actually had never seen Steel Magnolias. It is performed fairly regularly I just for whatever reason had never seen it. This production kind of reminded me of when I saw Enchanted April at Sugar Factory Playhouse last year. Both are women-centric plays with minimal sets that make them ideal for a community theatre to put on (both productions were also in city hall buildings!) Steel Magnolias is a play written by Robert Harling about the women in his town and how they rallied together after the death of his sister from diabetes. It of course was turned into the popular feature film with Dolly Parton and Julia Roberts in 1989.

With a play like this it really comes down to the casting and can the group of women create believable chemistry together on stage. Fortunately the cast at Millcreek achieve these criteria in spades. I can’t overstate how impressed I was with every performance and how easy it was to get emotionally invested in their friendships. Alexandrea Tara-Brett leads things off in the Parton-like role of Truvy in a performance Dolly would be proud of. Brittney Smith and Libby Mitchell make a believable mother/daughter combo playing Shelby and M’Lynn respectively and M’Lisa Bailey-Hansen is hilarious as crotchety Ousier. They are all also very good with their accents creating believable Southern characters.

This production of Steel Magnolias took place in an office room at Millcreek City Hall. The seats are just office chairs and the stage is an elevated platform where they create Truvy’s in-home beauty salon the women flock to for gossip and haircare. Nothing is fancy but I was impressed they got the sink to work for the hair shampooing. I’m not sure how they did that but it looked like M’Lynn got her hair wet in the sink.

As far as critique I might try to find a different gunshot sound effect. The one they used sounded like a light saber more than a gunshot. Other than that this was a wonderful afternoon of community theatre, and I’m so glad I got to take part in it.

This production of Steel Magnolias is directed by Traci Nelson and creative director Jim Nelson with stage manager Jax Jessup. All of these individuals have my attention. I will be curious what they do next because they accomplished so much with so little to work with here. The only sad part is (aside from what happens to poor Shelby) is the play only ran this weekend so only a handful of people got to experience it. (That’s always the sad part of live theatre. It’s so ephemeral unlike film that is archived for generations to watch.) Evidently next up for Millcreek is A Midsummer’s Night Dream which should be a ton of fun. Find out more on their facebook page.

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