Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

The Americus Correspondant

Director Kim Fuller composed the perfect Mother’s Day Card in her interpretation of Robert Harling’s Steel Magnolias, which played to packed houses this past weekend at the Rylander Theatre in Americus. It was the perfect sweet and salty wrap-up to the Sumter Players’ 60^th Anniversary Season. “Truly heartwarming and funny,” says Kay Yates, in town visiting her son and his family for Mother’s Day. The play, Steel Magnolias, is set in the 1980s in Chinquapin, Louisiana, and takes place entirely in Truvy Jones’ beauty parlor.  It follows the lives and loves of a group of close friends who navigate the pain of loss with a healthy dose of biting wit. Truvy, played by Rachel Cotton, is the glue that holds this powerfully opinionated sisterhood together. Cotton’s comic performance was nothing short of miraculous as she flawlessly delivered her lines while skillfully rearranging the other characters’ hairstyles. Annelle Dupuy-Desoto, Mandy Barr, “who may or may not be married to someone who might be a dangerous criminal,” delivered her lines with such innocence and sincerity that they were doubly funny. As one would expect in a beauty salon, the characters spend much of their time looking into mirrors that happen to face the audience. The audience is drawn into the room through the back of a looking glass. Rebecca Ferguson is hilarious in the role of the irreverent and sassy Clairee Belcher. Her energy and contagious laughter keep the action moving when events threatened to turn a bit too serious. There are no minor characters in this performance. Boisterous and grumpy Ouiser Boudreaux, played by Lezlie Poole, is larger than life and delivers some of the funniest one-liners in the production. It’s easy to fall in love with Shelby Eatenton-Latcherie as portrayed by Roxanne Gatian. Gatian is funny and tragic, yet somehow perfectly balanced. Gatian is charming and believable. The most powerful performance of the night, however, is delivered by Rachel Price as M’lynn Eatenton, Shelby’s mother. Price does not disappoint as the drama draws to a climax. In one of theatres’ most emotional scenes, Price’s performance sucks the air from the room and leaves the audience unashamedly dabbing their eyes. Andrew Greer’s beautiful live performance of period music provided the cherry on top of this Mother’s Day peach cobbler alamode. Bravo! I laughed loudly and cried quietly. Sumter Players’ Steel Magnolias was a fantastic play. I cannot wait until next season.