For the Herricks Community Players, the upcoming production of “Steel Magnolias” is a departure from form.
Normally, the versatile community theater company looks to keep things light, concentrating on comedies and musicals.
But this time around, veteran director John Hayes is taking a chance on the bittersweet story by Howard Ross of a group of close-knit women in a southern community who ultimately support each other in the face of personal tragedy.
“I’d never did anything like it before. The closest I’ve come to it is ‘The Miracle Worker’,” Hayes said. “It’s a comedy, but it’s poignant.”
The women portrayed in the piece have impromptu gatherings share the ups and downs of their lives in the home of their local hairdresser. Their frank discussions make for hilarious interchanges in the course of a play that succeeds in delivering a message about the profound meaning of real friendship.
“I love the celebration of women friends. It’s honoring the strength of women,” said Rachel Zampino, who has been performing in the Herricks group’s productions over the past decade.
“It’s a real family here. There’s a real trust, a camaraderie,” she said of the interaction of the community theater’s company.
Onstage, that sense of camaraderie is conveyed by an ensemble of women who work effortlessly in achieving a comfortable intimacy as they talk about their personal issues with good humor and good will.
Danielle Kern plays Shelby, the daughter of Zampino’s character, M’Lynn. The drama in the piece turns on Shelby’s decision to have a baby against her doctors’ orders due to be diabetes. Mother and daughter confront each other over the decision in one of the more emotional scenes of the play.
“I relate to it a lot,” Kern said. “They drive each other crazy but they love each other a lot.”
Kern said admires the strength of her character and the way she deals with the hand that life has dealt her.
On her risky decision to have a baby, Shelby tells her mother, “I’d rather have 30 minutes of a wonderful life than a life of nothing special.”
For Barbara Murphy, who plays the Truvy, the hair stylist at the center of the female friends circle, working in the Herricks Community Players productions with Hayes since 1989 has brought more than 30 minutes of a wonderful life.
“He lets you be as creative as you want. He’s a real professional,” Murphy said.
She’s particularly fond of her character, a compassionate free spirit who doesn’t mince words with the other women.
“She has a warmth about her that brings everybody together,” Murphy said. “It’s a great ensemble cast.”
The cast interacts seamlessly as they convey the impression that they really know each other as well as the characters they’re playing.
Despite the pathos of the story line, “Steel Magnolias” is replete with memorable one-liners for any theater-goer looking for a few good laughs.
Murphy’s character Truvy gets her fair share of those lines, as when she tells the younger Shelby, who’s concerned about the first evidence of “crow’s feet” around her eyes: “Honey, time marches on and eventually you realize it is marchin’ across your face.”
The curtain goes up on Friday, Oct. 21 at 8 p.m. in the Herricks Community Center theater, with performances on Saturday, Oct. 22 at 8 p.m. and Oct. 23 at 3 p.m. Performances continue the following weekend, on Oct. 28 and 29 at 8 p.m., with a final Sunday matinee on Oct. 30 at 3 p.m. Tickets are $22 for adults and $18 for senior citizens. More information, including information about groups rates, is available by calling 516-742-1926.
