NTG presents 25th anniversary production of Steel Magnolias

The Newport Theatre Guild will be presenting its 25^th anniversary production of Harling’s Steel Magnolias at the Smoky Mountain Country Club in Newport. Performances will take place at 7:00pm on the evenings of April 24^th and 25^th, as well as May 1^st and 2^nd. There will also be a matinee performance on May 3^rd at 1:30pm.

Dandridge resident, Tamra Fain, has been selected to join the ensemble cast as Clairee Belcher, the wealthy widow and former first lady of the fictional Chinquapin Parish in Louisiana. Tamra was bitten by the theater bug at Mississippi College, where she acted and directed in plays with the college’s theater company, the MC Tribal Players. With the company, she acted in the part of Laurel in Bagnold’s The Chalk Garden and as Elmire in Moliere’s Tartuffe. She also acted as Witch 1 and co-directed the company’s production of Shakespeare’s classic Macbeth. “I enjoy acting out the great one-liners of Clairee’s character,” says Tamra. “Clairee’s banter back and forth with the other characters, especially Ouiser, makes for some great comedic moments in the play.” Joining Tamra in rounding out the cast of Steel Magnolias are Jamie Branam Kridler as M’Lynn Eatenton, Laura Forbes as Shelby Eatenton Latcherie, April Hiller Griffen as Ouiser Boudreaux, Suzanne Belcher as Truvy Jones, and Candice Keller as Annelle Dupuy DeSoto.

Tickets are $20.00 per person and include a Cajun/Creole themed dinner of jambalaya and “bleeding armadillo” cake. A cash bar will also be available. To reserve tickets, please contact Dr. Clay Blazer by phone at (865) 705-7887 or by email at ClayBlazer@hotmail.com. Interested parties can also visit the Newport Theatre Guild’s Facebook group at http://on.fb.me/1yHK1Lw to learn more about this and upcoming productions.