Steel Magnolias at Ojai Art Center Theater

The action takes place in Truvys beauty salon in Chinquapin, Louisiana, where all the ladies who are anybody come to have their hair done. Helped by her eager new assistant, Annelle (who is not sure whether or not she is still married), the outspoken, wise-cracking Truvy dispenses shampoos and free advice to the towns rich curmudgeon, Ouiser, ("Im not crazy, Ive just been in a bad mood for forty years"); an eccentric millionaire, Miss Clairee, who has a raging sweet tooth; and the local social leader, MLynn, whose daughter, Shelby (the prettiest girl in town), is about to marry a good ole boy. Filled with hilarious repartee and not a few acerbic but humorously revealing verbal collisions, the play moves toward tragedy when, in the second act, the spunky Shelby (who is a diabetic) risks pregnancy and forfeits her life. The sudden realization of their mortality affects the others, but also draws on the underlying strengthand lovewhich give the play, and its characters, the special quality to make them truly touching, funny and marvelously amiable company in good times and bad.