In February, Creative Cauldron will open its brand-new theater and new home in the
Broad and Washington project with the production of Steel Magnolias, written by Robert Harling. The theater will be transformed into Truvy’s Beauty Salon in Chinquapin, Louisiana, where a talented and diverse sisterhood shares this heartfelt and hilarious story. Steel Magnolias is directed by Founding Artistic Director Laura Connors Hull. The production runs from February 13 – March 9, 2025.
Robert Harling wrote the stage play Steel Magnolias as a heartfelt tribute to his sister, who passed away in 1985. Drawing inspiration from her life and the resilience of the women who surrounded her, the play captures the complexities of friendship, love, and loss. It premiered Off-Broadway in 1987 to critical acclaim, resonating with audiences for its authenticity and emotional depth. Just two years later, in 1989, the story was adapted into a beloved film featuring an ensemble cast of powerhouse actors. Set in a small Louisiana town, the play centers on the deep, enduring bond shared by a close-knit group of women, exploring their strength, humor, and vulnerability as they navigate life’s joys and challenges together.
The talented cast of Steel Magnolias includes the familiar faces of Molly Rumberger, Krista Grimmett-Adams, and Karen Lange. Molly Rumberger (Shelby) was most recently seen in the Helen Hayes Awards recommended production of Sondheim Tribute Revue, as well as Working, and Disenchanted! (Helen Hayes nomination for Outstanding Supporting Performer in a Musical and Outstanding Ensemble in a Musical). At Monumental Theatre she appeared in Spring Awakening and Be More Chill and won a Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Supporting Performer. Other regional credits include: The Wedding Singer (NextStop Theatre), and Big Fish (Keegan Theatre).
Krista Grimmett-Adams (Clairee) was last seen in Creative Cauldron’s Bold New Voices premiere of Chicks in Heaven. She has performed around the world in various productions, some of her favorite performances include Aint Misbehavin’, The Heidi Chronicles,The Crucible, A Comedy of Errors, Medea, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Richard III, Home, Into the Woods, For Colored Girls, Cabaret and Jesus Christ Superstar.
Karen Lange (Ouiza) also appeared in Chicks in Heaven. Other credits include Happy Days (Mead Theatre Lab), Henry IV Parts I and II and The Trojan Women Project (Brave Spirits), Assassins (Pallas Theatre Collective), The Events (Theater Alliance), TAME (Avant Bard), A Bright Room Called Day (Nu Sass), The Carolina Layaway Grail (The Welders), A Perfect Arrangement (Source Festival), Ouroboros: Dawn of the Cabaret (TBD Immersive), and A Killing Game (dog&pony dc).
Making their Creative Cauldron debuts are Miss Kitty, Mindy Shaw, and Margaret Anne Murphy. Miss Kitty has been performing in theaters around the DMV for years. Her credits include Metamorphoses (Folger Theatre), Agreste (Drylands) (Helen Hayes Awards Nominee: Outstanding Lead Performer & Outstanding Ensemble/Spooky Action Theater), Suddenly Summer, She Speaks!, Illyria, or What You Will, Georgia Avenue Nocturne, and The Bacchae (Avant Bard Theatre), A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Much Ado About Nothing (Prince George’s Shakespeare in the Parks), Kabarett & Cabaret (IN Series), Brunch with the Boys (Capital Fringe Festival), Rent (Kensington Arts Theatre), and The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe (Imagination Stage). She has also appeared in a variety of cabarets with La Ti Do Productions, Capital Pride’s Music in the Night, and her very own virtual show An Evening with Miss Kitty with Avant Bard Theatre.
Mindy Shaw (M’Lynn) has been seen in theaters around the DMV in productions such as The Secrets of the Universe (The Hub Theatre), The Small Room at the Top of the Stairs and Collaborators (Spooky ActionTheater), Oblivion (Unexpected Stage Co.), Stories From the Fringe: Women Rabbis Revealed (tour), and Silent Sky (Silver Spring Stage). Other credits include The Immigrant (St. LouisTheater Circle Awards Nominee–Outstanding Supporting Performer in a Drama), We All Fall Down, Jake’s Women, It’s a Wonderful Life, Much Ado About Nothing, and Doublewide, Texas. Additional regional theater performances include Murder on the Orient Express and Other Desert Cities.
Margaret Anne Murphy (Annelle) has been performing around the DMV in productions such as Twelfth Night (Chesapeake Shakespeare Company), The Merry Wives of Windsor (Frederick Shakespeare), 1984 (Maryland Ensemble Theatre), East of the Sun…Moon (WSC Avant Bard), Mary the Third (Reading) (Endangered Species Project), The Day that Nothing Happened (Encore Stage), Passing (World Premiere) (Indian Ocean Theatre), The Changeling, Twelfth Night, Tis Pity She’s a Whore, and Othello (4615 Theater Company), Pride and Prejudice (Annapolis Shakespeare), Flight of the Xenophobe (Capital Fringe Festival). Other credits include A Christmas Carol (Hartford Stage), Romeo and Juliet (Elm Shakespeare Company), She Kills Monsters (All in Theatrics), The Servant of Two Masters (Ant Farm Connecticut). Her film credits include Bonfire as Amy and The Nightstand as Clementine.
Understudies for this production are Charlene Sloan and Lenny Mendez. Charlene Sloan was most recently in Chicks in Heaven as Sophie. Creative Cauldron Artistic Associate Lenny Mendez also appeared in Chicks in Heaven as Phoenix and most recently as the Queen of Hearts in the Learning Theater Ensemble’s production of Alice in Wonderland/Alicia en el País de las Maravillas.
Laura Connors Hull is joined on the Creative Team by Creative Cauldron’s Resident Designer, Margie Jervis, Sets and Costumes, Helen Hayes-nominated James Morrison, Lighting Designer, and Stacy King, Wig Designer. Nicholas Goodman is the Stage Manager.
Steel Magnolias runs February 13 – March 9, 2025 at Creative Cauldron’s new home, 127 E Broad St, Falls Church, VA 22042. Showtimes are Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 7:30 pm and Sundays at 2:00 pm. Tickets are $45 Tier One, $35 Tier Two, and $20 for students. To purchase tickets, call the box office at 703-436-9948 or go online.
About Creative Cauldron
Creative Cauldron is an award-winning non-profit theater and educational arts organization whose innovative programs in the performing and visual arts embody collaboration, experimentation and community engagement. Creative Cauldron was founded by Artistic Director Laura Connors Hull in 2002. In 2023 Creative Cauldron launched a $500,000 New Home-New Horizon capacity campaign to raise funds for a move into a new theater in the Broad and Washington project in Falls Church City in the Winter of 2025. After raising approximately $725,000 over a two-year span, Creative Cauldron has been able to smoothly transition into its new home closing out the 2024-2025 season. This new location at Broad and Washington will give Creative Cauldron a permanent home for the next 30 years, making a cultural anchor to a comprehensively planned arts and entertainment district that can appeal to people of all ages, incomes, and cultures.
