Benita Zahn to Star in “Steel Magnolias” at Fort Salem Theater

Emmy Award winner, podcast co-host, and local icon Benita Zahn will lead Fort Salem Theater’s cast of Steel Magnolias, written by Robert Harling and directed by Tracey Wesley of Salem. The show takes the stage April 22-24.

Zahn, who appears courtesy of Actors Equity Association, plays M’Lynn, the role made famous on film by Sally Field. Sharing the stage are Iris Rogers as Shelby, Jocelyn Khoury as Truvy, Debbie Warnock as Clairee, Dorothy Slim Van Pelt as Annelle and Cambridge High School Principal Caroline Goss as Ouiser.

The action is set in Truvy’s 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 town’s rich curmudgeon, Ouiser, (“I’m not crazy, I’ve 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, M’Lynn, whose daughter, Shelby (the prettiest girl in town), is about to marry a “good ole boy.”

Joining director Tracey Wesley are Scenic Designer Charles J. I. Krawczyk, Stage Manager Maureen Cossey, Costume & Hair Designer Jeremy Buechner, and Lighting & Sound Designer John Norine Jr.