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align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>Rabbit Run opens season
with southern comfort comedy ‘Steel Magnolias’<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal
align=center><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal
align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d"><FONT size=3>Bob
Abelman<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal
align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d"><FONT
size=3>News-Herald, Chagrin Valley Times, Solon Times, Geauga Times
Courier<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal
align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d"><FONT size=3>Member,
International Association of Theatre Critics <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal
align=center><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal
align=center><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d">This review will
appear in the News-Herald</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">
on 6/7/13<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
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align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #333333"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>Rabbit Run Theater in
Madison Township opens its summer stock season of movie-themed productions with
Robert Harling’s “Steel Magnolias.”<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>It’s no Dickens masterwork (the subject of last season’s productions),
but the play has become a true classic on the community theater circuit since
the film’s release in 1989. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">This estrogen-driven tearjerker of a
comedy is set in Truvy’s</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">
Beauty Shop in Chinquapin Parish, Louisiana, </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">where the drawling dialogue revolves
around local gossip, recipe exchanges, and saccharine observations on life and
love.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><FONT
size=3>The story centers on Shelby (Mackenzie Possage), an endearing young women
whose diabetes and disappointing marriage lead to personal setbacks, medical
complications, and tough-love doled out by her ever-vigil but adoring mother,
M’Lynn (Maria Thomas Lister).<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><FONT
size=3>Yet, “Steel Magnolias” is very much an ensemble piece that features salon
owner Truvy Jones (J. Sunshine Sprague), her assistant Annelle (Colleen
O’Leary), and a core of lovable and devoted locals (Ingrid Balstad as Clairee
and Linda Fundis as Ouiser) who come in for a wash and a rinse, but stay to
dish.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Throughout the play, they
share in Shelby’s pain and pleasure and, by doing so, invite us to do the
same.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><FONT
size=3>All this personal disclosure and the casual manner in which it unfolds is
stuff suitable for the Lifetime Channel, but these affable and charming
characters and the witty repartee they are provided make for a very pleasant
evening’s entertainment for everyone.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">As
with all plays that have become popular films, it is impossible not to compare
one with the other.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>And with
</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Sally Field, Shirley
MacLaine, Olympia Dukakis, Dolly Parton, Daryl Hannah and Julia Roberts as their
cinematic counterparts, our local players have huge shoes to fill.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Despite some overacting and overreacting
in this Rabbit Run production, everyone turns in a truly delightful, believable
performance.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The comic timing is
also superb, which is clearly director Nancy Shimonek Brooks’ influence.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><FONT
size=3>Mackenzie Possage is a very accessible Shelby, and her underlying
vulnerability is the styling gel that serves to bond the ensemble and turn the
audience into a supportive and collective whole.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>These qualities are also required to
turn the final scene of the play into a two-tissue tearjerker, which it
does.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><FONT
size=3>J. Sunshine Sprague and Ingrid Balstad are particularly wonderful as
Truvy and the wealthy Clairee, respectively.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>They deliver country-fried witticisms,
barbs and sassiness with equal ease but with a distinctive manner of
presentation that keeps this production interesting.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">While
the film has the luxury of location shots, the stage version of “Steel
Magnolias” is set exclusively in </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Truvy’s</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">
Beauty Shop. This places quite a burden on scenic design, for the salon needs to
establish from the get-go the down-home charm that defines this play and these
people.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><FONT
size=3>Julie Harter and her crew have created an attractive but merely
functional space.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Void of clutter,
wear and tear, or local flavor, it feels as if Trudy’s is only lived in during
the two hours of the performance.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Still, with imaginary mirrors supposedly hung from the proscenium arch
and actors facing the audience during bouts of grooming, we are brought into the
action despite the set’s lack of appeal.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">By the end of the show, patrons are
likely to be checking their toes for cotton balls and leaving a few dollars on
the counter on the way out.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>That’s
the sign of a good production of “</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Steel
Magnolias.”<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>“Steel Magnolias<SPAN
style="COLOR: black">” </SPAN>continues through June 8 at Rabbit Run Theater,
5648 W. Chapel Rd., in Madison Township. For tickets, $<SPAN
style="COLOR: black">19 to $21, call </SPAN>440-428-7092 or visit </FONT><A
href="" target=_blank><SPAN style="COLOR: blue"><FONT
size=3>www.rabbitrunonline.org</FONT></SPAN></A><FONT size=3>.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN></FONT><o:p></o:p></SPAN></I></P></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>