Steel Magnolias

Act One, Scene One

Steel Magnolias opens on a Saturday morning in April in Truvy’s beauty shop. Annelle, who’s new in town, is completing a ‘do for Truvy, who, desperate for help and willing to overlook Annelle’s nervousness, hires her on the spot. Saturdays are reserved for the ladies of the neighborhood at Truvy’s, and as the two women begin to set up the salon for the clientele, Truvy explains her beauty philosophy to Annelle: “There’s no such thing as natural beauty.” A few loud gunshots are heard from outside the shop, startling Annelle, but Truvy tells her to “ignore it like the rest of the neighborhood.” Clairee, the former first lady of Chinquapin, arrives from the dedication ceremony at the high school. When Truvy sends Annelle to fetch more towels, Truvy and Clairee talk about this strange new hire; she says she’s married, but lives alone at the boarding house. Truvy assures Clairee that Annelle is nice and not a thief, which she has deduced based on the way Annelle made