TRAGEDY & COMEDY & BEAUTY

In directing "Steel Magnolias," the challenge for George Kralemann was walking the line that separates the play's comedy from its tragedy.

"I had to find a natural balance," said Kralemann. "Sometimes it was too comedic and sometimes too dramatic."

What he discovered in rehearsal was that the six actresses who make up the cast understood better than he did how these women friends would interact in the mix of comic and calamitous situations the play presents.

"They got a feel for things a lot faster than I did," he said.

The River City Players' production opens tonight at the River City Yacht Club and continues Friday, Saturday and Feb. 13-16. All performances except tonight's and the Feb. 13 show are in a dinner theater format. Times are

Kralemann, who last directed "Life With Father" for the River City Players, said the familiarity of "Steel Magnolias" due to the popularity of the movie was one of the reasons it was chosen.

"We knew it would have some appeal, and it was something that was a little dramatic but not go off the deep end completely," he said.

The popularity of the work is so great, in fact, that a seventh performance on Feb. 16 was added just before opening night.

Unlike the movie, the two-act play "Steel Magnolias" has no men in the cast. That's if you don't count the offstage sound of M'Lynn's husband shooting at birds.

Working with a cast composed entirely of women was not such a new experience for Kralemann, who teaches second-graders in Zalma. "Being a teacher, I'm the only man at my elementary school," he said.

He liked the fact that somebody always seemed to bring food on rehearsal nights.

The number of women who turned out to audition for "Steel Magnolias" impressed Kralemann.

"Thirty-five women showed up and a lot of them were older women," he said. "We usually get a lot of teen-agers."

Virginia Overholser, who plays Annelle, is the production's lone teen-ager. She is a senior at Central High School.

Also appearing in the production are Tana Howard, Carolyn Simpson, Tonya Wells, Lee Ann Wright and Karen Honaas.

Only Overholser and Howard have previous experience with the River City Players. In fact, most of the other women haven't acted on stage since high school.

Howard works for a law firm, Wright workd for Blue Cross Blue Shield, Wells is the communications director for the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce, Honaas manages her husband's office, and Simpson is a free-lance writer and fashion distributor.

Kralemann's assistant director is Stacey Storey. Mention also is due Lori Wenskay, who oversaw the cast's frequent changes of hair styles -- most of them accomplished with wigs.