Directed by Associate Artistic Director, Scott Treadway, the production co-stars North Carolina native Lauren Kennedy (Spamalot, Sunset Boulevard) as Shelby and Pamela Myers (Company) as Truvy. The remainder of the cast features Diane J. Findlay as Ouiser, Rebecca Koon as Clairee, Marianne Fraulo as M�Lynn and Julia VanderVeen as Annelle

Set in Truvy's beauty salon in Chinquapin Parish, Louisiana, where all the ladies who are anybody come to have their hair done, "Steel Magnolias" follows a set of friends for a number of years as they discuss their families, their feelings, their pasts, their futures, their hopes, and their dreams. The title refers to those seemingly frail Southern belles who survive any and all deprivations through wills of iron. The play is filled with entertaining banter, humorously revealing verbal collisions, and a touch of sadness. As the ladies come face to face with trying times, they draw on their underlying strength and the love they have for each other �which gives the play, and its characters, the special quality that makes them truly touching, funny and marvelously amiable company in good times and bad.

The movie has carved a niche in the conscious of pop culture and has a wide and deep appeal to both and men and women of all ages. Harling�s revealing script is a tribute to his sister and he carefully and humorously lays out the women�s rivalries and eccentricities over several generations of characters, so that all ages and genders will find something of relevance.

Originally from Raleigh, North Carolina, Lauren Kennedy�s Broadway credits include Lady of the Lake in Monty Python�s Spamalot, Sunset Boulevard with Glenn Close, Side Show as Daisy Hilton and Fantine in the final year of Les Miserables. Lauren starred as Nellie Forbush in Trevor Nunn�s revival of South Pacific at the Royal National Theatre in London and she starred opposite Val Kilmer in The Ten Commandments at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles. Most recently she starred in pre-Broadway productions of Vanitites at The Pasadena

Playhouse and Lone Star Love with The Red Clay Ramblers. Lauren premiered as Zelda Fitzgerald in Frank Wildhorn's Waiting For The Moon (directed by FRP Producing Artistic Director, Vincent Marini) and received a Barrymore Award Nomination for Best Actress. She has also recorded two albums, �Here and Now� and her debut album �Lauren Kennedy Songs of Jason Robert Brown.� Kennedy has appeared in numerous Raleigh productions, most recently in Annie Get Your Gun alongside Larry Gatlin at NC Theatre.

Pamela Myers was nominated for a 1971 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her work as Marta in Sondheim's Company and was most recently seen on Broadway as Cinderella's stepmother in the Tony-winning revival of Into the Woods. She appeared as Dot in the West Coast premiere of another Sondheim musical, Sunday in the Park with George, as well as in regional productions of Gypsy, Sweeney Todd, Hot N� Cole and Love and Shrimp. Myers has also guest-starred on numerous television productions including "Sha Na Na," "Alice," "Chips," "Happy Days," "Protocol," "Murder in Texas" and "The Big Show."

Presented by The Sthreshley Real Estate Team of Keller Williams Realty Mountain Partners, "Steel Magnolias" is onstage April 29 through May 23. Flat Rock Playhouse is located at 2661 Greenville Hwy in Flat Rock, NC. Evening performances are Wednesday through Saturday at 8:00 and matinee performances are most Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays at 2:00. Tickets to "Steel Magnolias" are $34 with discounts available for seniors, students and groups. Tickets can be purchased by calling the Playhouse box office at 828-693-0731, toll-free at 866-732-8008 or online at www.flatrockplayhouse.org.

(Image provided by Flat Rock Playhouse.)

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