The Pocket Community Theatre is a busy place these days, as its production of "Steel Magnolias" continues this weekend and next while it also holds auditions for "Little Women."
"Steel Magnolias," directed by Ann Wilson, started its run on Friday and will have performances today, Sunday, April 8, 9 and 10.
"I think most people are familiar with the film," Wilson said of the play. "We did this show eight years ago and I played M'Lynn, the mother in the show, and we wanted to do it again."
Wilson is not performing in this production of the play. "It's interesting because it's two completely different jobs. I think the most difficult thing about being a director when you've been an actor is that you want to project your version of it, or how you would say that line, and as a director, you have to step back at some point," she said.
"I would think my cast would tell you I am really good at giving notes after rehearsal -- but at some point you kind of have to step back and let them develop their character," Wilson said.
Auditions for "Steel Magnolias" were in late January and early February. "From beginning to end, a cast has two and a half months," she said, noting it has been fun watching the cast learn their parts.
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"As an actor, as a director, it's just the most fun to see the process, and as in any art, whether it's painting or acting or any form of art, to do it and to love it, you've got to love the process. You can't do it just for that end result," Wilson said.
"You have to love the process and I have had the best cast in the world. They have worked hard. They have done everything that I've asked them to do and more. They are delightful, and I think audiences will love them," she said.
The cast is made up of six women, Wilson said, and "there's almost as much in the crew as there are on stage. Six, and it's three generations. And I don't know if people have seen the movie, but it just kind of dawned on me -- and I've been in it -- but there's three generations of women on this stage and to see them interact together is just wonderful."
"It is about strong women, it is about friendship. It's about helping friends get through -- there's a tragedy at the end. There's a lot of laughs, it's very funny," she said.
"It hasn't gotten old. It was written in 1987 and it's still as fresh as it ever was, and funny lines. Even when you know them, you laugh," Wilson said.
Pocket's next show, "Little Women," will hold auditions beginning Sunday night after the matinee performance of "Steel Magnolias."
"They start at 6 (p.m.) and will run all the way till 8 (p.m.) if we still have people auditioning," Jodi Tooke, the play's director, said. Auditions will continue at the theater from 7 to 9 p.m. Monday.
Tooke said she is looking to cast 11 people in the show, including seven women and four men.
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"Of course, the little women, which are teenagers essentially, so there's a wide range of ages," she said. The youngest character "would probably be about a 12-year-old, the youngest sister" and "the oldest is probably old Mr. Laurence and then Aunt March, and they could be kind of any age over 50."
"There's a little bit of music in it, but not enough to really call it a musical, so for those auditioning, if you can play piano, that's a definite plus, but it's not required," Tooke said.
"First-timers are welcome. In fact, first-timers are sometimes even better because they don't have these notions about what it is they are supposed to do -- that's kind of my job as a director to tell you what I want you to do on stage, and then you interpret, and so if you really feel connected to a character, that's when I get the best performances. You know, when they just have this connection, it's a chance to be someone else on stage," she said.
Those who are cast will have to commit to the project.
"First off you have to spend time learning your lines. And that's on your time. You don't come to rehearsal to learn your lines, you learn your lines on your own, and then we will rehearse on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 6:30 (p.m.) until approximately 8:30 (p.m.), just kind of depends on how things are running," Tooke said.
"And then there will be some requirement to help develop the set and help get things set up and there'll be costuming and there may be some additional time in that as well," she said.
The theater was "looking at 'Little Women' pre-pandemic. We kind of select our shows almost a year in advance," she said. After it fell off the lineup, "we kind of reworked it after the pandemic to fit it in."
"For me, it's a real favorite because it shows, in fact, this particular production, the playwright is Marisha Chamberlain, she did the adaptation, and she really highlights the little women developing. You can see in the beginning of the play they're kind of roughhousing, just a bunch of girls having fun, and by the end of the play you'll see where each of them has kind of grown in some way into the little women that their father always kind of hoped they would become," she said.
Shows will be held the first two weekends in June on Friday and Saturday nights with a Sunday matinee.
Jodi Tooke, director of the Pocket Community Theatre’s “Little Women,” sits in the stands at the theater. She will hold auditions for the play on Sunday and Monday. - Photo by Tyler Wann of The Sentinel-Record
Ann Wilson, director of “Steel Magnolias,” stands on the set of the play at Pocket Community Theatre. - Photo by Tyler Wann of The Sentinel-Record