Steel Magnolias at Ledbetter Auditorium, Columbia State Community College

Watershed Public Theatre closes its 2025-26 season with Robert Harling's classic Southern dramedy set in a beauty salon in 1980s Chinquapin, Louisiana, following a tight-knit community of women through life's milestones over a two-year timeline. The cast features Kay Ayers as M'Lynn, Deb Meeks as Ouiser, Colby Block as Clairee, Sarah Fye as Truvy, Kelsey Keny as Shelby, and Annie Zander as Annelle. Production director Sarah Tatom describes the characters as representing strength and softness, resilience wrapped in grace, noting that the women are not defined by tragedy but by their ability to endure it together.