Chapel Street Players’ production of Steel Magnolias opens in Newark next weekend.
Before it was a popular and award-winning movie, Steel Magnolias was a stage play, and in recent years, the stage version has gained popularity. As part of its 90th season, Chapel Street Players present their interpretation. Director Gary Kirchhof says the story is a powerful one about friendship and resolve.
“There's laughter, there's tears - lots of tears," Kirchhof says. "But it's also really about the strength of these women and women in general.”
Kirchhof says he used the popular film in preparation, but his vision for the production is also inspired by his own background.
“I also brought in my own personal experience of being a kid in the 80s in the South, who had a mother who was in a hair salon," he says. "And so therefore I was in a hair salon for a lot of that time. So, you know, I feel like I know these characters from my personal experience.”
Steel Magnolias opens on Friday, April 4 and runs through April 12. Tickets are available at chapelstreetplayers.org.
Delaware Public Media's arts coverage is made possible, in part, by support from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency dedicated to nurturing and supporting the arts in Delaware, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts.
