Darien Dawley is making her directorial debut this weekend as she leads a team of women in Candlewick Players production of Steel Magnolias
Not only is Darien directing the play, she’s also in the play.
“When the opportunity came to direct and choose my own play, Steel Magnolias actually fell perfectly into the parameters and it was something that I always hoped I would be able to do again.” She continues, “Candlewick had done 12 Angry men in the fall and there’d been a bit of a discussion about whether we would do an all female play.”
Darien has been acting since she was in high school and when she moved to the Pembina Valley a few years ago she jumped right in to the theatre scene, doing shows with Candlewick and Flatlands.
“The overall story is really important but if you find a character that you can really connect to and fall in to, it’s almost like falling in to the story where everything else about your real life disappears and it’s just this moment in time.”
It’s a story about strong women, performed by strong women from the Pembina Valley like our own Robyn Wiebe, Della Friesen, Erin Tackaberry, Darlene Reimer, Hannah Franz and of course Darien.
“I think everybody should come check out Steel Magnolias. The youngest character is 19, the oldest character is about 70, so even if you don’t fall into that age range the comments are witty, the heartbreaking moments are heartfelt, the warm moments are for everybody.”
