AT A GLANCE
Jefferson City High School's winter drama performance this year will be a double feature - a first for the program - with two casts telling two stories of love and female empowerment.
Drama teacher and club coordinator Zachary McKinney said a second show was needed to pair with the performance of writer Robert Harling's "Steel Magnolias" - and that role has been filled by writers Joseph Bologna and Renee Taylor's "Acts of Love."
"Steel Magnolias" has a primary cast of six female characters. McKinney said that shaped his thoughts about having a second show, because while "we do have some really strong female leads," he wanted to find another show that could be inclusive of more girls, and boys too.
Given the dual performances' proximity to Valentine's Day and the themes in "Steel Magnolias" of strong women, he thought "Acts of Love" would be a good fit.
"Acts of Love" will open first, and McKinney said the one-act show's performance time is about 45 minutes. After a 15-minute intermission, "Steel Magnolias" will begin.
McKinney described "Acts of Love" as a "vignette kind of show."
"Each part of the stage will have its own station" representing its own setting and time period, he said.
"Steel Magnolias" takes place in one setting - a salon.
Each setting in "Acts of Love" will feature a character connected to one of other settings in the show in some fashion, McKinney said. The show provides for a "really fun use of the script that you can make it any time period and connect the characters if you want."
The different settings in "Acts of Love" will show "different scenes of love that a woman or man will face in their lifetime, mostly (from the perspective of) females," he said - a teenage girl who "can't wait to fall in love," a woman in her 30s, another woman in her 40s, the love of a husband, the love of a child.
Audience members may be familiar with the 1989 movie adaptation of "Steel Magnolias," starring Sally Field, Dolly Parton, Shirley MacLaine, Daryl Hannah, Olympia Dukakis and Julia Roberts.
It's about "women in a beauty shop that are celebrating friendship hard times, and supporting each other through those hard times" - "sharing a strong bond with each other," McKinney said.
The performers will be students in grades nine through 12 - all together about 30 students. A few stars are in both shows as supporting characters, but the leads for each show are unique.
It's the first time Jefferson City public schools have performed either of these plays, and students have been practicing since December.
Given the intermission in between, audience members do have the option to see one show and not the other, but he hopes people will enjoy both.
"We really hope the community comes out and supports us and enjoys what we have to bring to the table," McKinney said.
Jefferson City High School's performances of "Acts of Love" and "Steel Magnolias" will run Feb. 9-11. The shows start at 6:30 p.m. each night at the Miller Performing Arts Center, 501 Madison St. Tickets are $7 for adults and $5 for students.