In the South, you’d be hard-pressed to find a woman who hasn’t seen "Steel Magnolias" at least once.

It’s a classic tale of family and friendships forged in a beauty salon. The movie, based on the novel by Robert Harling, featured an all-star cast that included Julia Roberts, Dolly Parton and Sally Field.

And it will also go down in history as the first production put on by the new Jefferson Community Theatre.

"For our first performance, we wanted to pick something that most people were familiar with, something light hearted," said Beth Laughinghouse, who is helping to organize the production.

"Even though it has some
dramatic moments, it’s still basically a comedy and comedy tends to draw more people to the theater."

Although performance dates have been set for the last weekend in July and the first weekend in August, the theater group is missing a key ingredient — a cast.

Auditions for the production will be held from 6-8 p.m. June 1 at the William Duncan Martin Performing Arts Center at Jefferson High School.

Although the original movie was based on a group of six women and their families, the Jefferson production, like the Broadway adaptation, will focus just on the women and will be set in Truvy’s beauty salon.

"They don’t need to prepare anything special for the auditions. We’ll have selected scenes for them to read from that night," said Laughinghouse.

Potential cast members don’t have to any previous acting experience, but if they do, Laughinghouse is encouraging them to bring along a resume with their experience.

"It would also be great if people would bring along a head shot if they have one . It doesn’t have to be anything special, just a picture of them from the shoulders up," Laughinghouse said. "If they don’t have one, we’ll also be taking pictures that night so it’s not a problem."