As the Valley Center Stage, a non-profit community theater, enters its 11th season it’s taking on a southern flair with “Steel Magnolias.”

Directed by the theater group’s Jim Snyder, the play is a Broadway and box-office hit from Robert Harling that features six south-Louisiana women who share their lives in a heart-warming and heart-wrenching story, set in a converted-carport beauty parlor.

“It’s a powerful story,” Snyder stated, “You get to laugh (and) care about the characters. I love how the women are so involved in each other’s lives and really care for and support each other. I think that’s a great part of the story.”

Snyder said he has built sets, acted in and directed plays for 40 years, but found the Valley Center Stage four years ago when he walked into an audition for “Moon over Buffalo.” Although he never studied theater, he said his experience has been a powerful education.

“I’ve been very fortunate to work with a number of great directors over the years (who) actually teach theater,” he explained. “I feel like I’ve had an education in theater that’s spanned decades.”

Rachel Mills, a young Valley actress, is entering her second season with the theater group, which she also serendipitously discovered.

“For a (while) I wasn’t doing any (acting) because I didn’t know there was a theater in my hometown that I could easily just go to,” she explained.

Mills said she was at a North Bend festival two years ago when her mom pointed out the Valley Center Stage sign above the Masonic Lodge along North Bend Way and she said she’s been hooked ever since.

“I’ve been acting since before I can remember,” Mills detailed. “The earliest performance I can remember is that little pre-school show that everybody does, I was a horse and I chickened out and forgot my line.”

Mills has come a long way, even so far as snagging the lead for her first audition with Valley Center Stage in “Almost, Maine,” which she described as a “huge confidence boost.”

Rochelle Wyatt, Becky Rappin, Kathleen Roche-Zujko and Robin Walbeck Forrest run through a scene. – Allyce Andrew / Staff Photo

When asked about the importance of community theater, Mills said she could rant about it for hours. She described one experience in which she was working with Rochelle Wyatt, who plays her character’s mother (M’Lynn) in “Steel Magnolias,” on the love story “Same Time, Next Year” and her reaction to a particular heartbreaking scene.

“I was sitting back in this corner because I was stage managing, and I felt myself feeling what she was feeling,” she explained. “The air of the theater changes when the mood on-stage changes—you don’t get that in a movie theater, you get that in live theater.”

Julie Lester, who’s cast as the character Truvy, described her role with the theater as a “family affair” done as volunteer work “for the love of the arts.” Her daughter, Ally Lester, is acting as the assistant stage manager and her husband, Mark Ballantine, is helping to build the set – an ironic parallel with her character’s husband, who built the beauty shop the women convene in.

“I think that the community is very receptive,”  Lester stated about the theater’s role in the Valley. “I’ve realized that it seems like Valley Center Stage can be one of the Valley’s best kept secrets. It’s tucked up here –  it’s like the Room of Requirement in ‘Harry Potter’ you have to really want to make it in for the door to appear.”

“All walks of life can come and participate,” Lester said, attributing community theater’s charm to the fact that anyone can finish their day job, don a costume and hit the stage in their own community.

Snyder sympathized with the community-role and accessibility within Valley Center Stage.

“I would certainly hope that more (people) would show up here and audition for shows and help us work on them,” he stated. “If people want to be involved, there’s a place for them.”

“Steel Magnolias” runs 7:30 p.m. every Thursday (which are pay-what-you-can days), Friday and Saturday from May 28 to June 13, including a 2 p.m. Saturday matinee, June 6. Adult tickets are $17.50, senior/students are $14.

Tickets are available online at valleycenterstage.org.