Steel Magnolias

93rd Season Opener
First Live Show Since Theatre Productions Halted Due to COVID-19

It’s ‘lights up’ once again for the Janesville Little Theatre (JLT) as the cast and crew of Steel Magnolias debut their first show of the 2021-22 season, and the first live show since theatre productions were halted due to the COVID pandemic. Show dates are October 29, 30 and 31 and November 5, 6 and 7, 2021 at the Janesville Performing Arts Center.

Steel Magnolias, written by Robert Harling and directed by JLT’s Steve Shaw, features an all-female cast set in a popular Chinquapin, Louisiana beauty salon, where ladies from an upper-crust social scene come to have their hair done.

The play is plentiful with wise-cracks and colorful characters, hilarious repartee and a few sharp-tongued but humorously revealing verbal collisions. As the plot moves towards tragedy and a realization of one’s mortality, it also draws on strength and love, which give the play and its characters company in a truly touching, funny and marvelously amiable way — in good times and bad.

The cast includes Candace Griffin as Annelle; Mary Beth Klietz as Truvy; Melissa Defebaugh as Claree; Saralyn Duncan as Shelby; Stephanie Boettcher as M’Lynn; and Laura Johnson as Ouiser.

“We are so looking forward to entertaining our patrons again after a too-long hiatus. I have an excellent cast and we are very excited to be presenting Steel Magnolias, a wonderful play with a great heart,” Shaw says.

Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased at www.janesvillepac.org.

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Janesville Little Theatre (JLT) is Wisconsin’s oldest community theatre group, and one of the three oldest in the United States. Founded in 1929, the group staged its first major play in 1930 and has produced a series of plays each season, without interruption, ever since. JLT membership is open to anyone who is a lover of theatre and supporter of the arts. JLT is staffed by community volunteers and governed by a Board of Directors elected by its members.