VHHS theater to produce ‘Steel Magnolias’ and ‘Night of the Living Dead’

The Vestavia Hills High School theater department will perform “Steel Magnolias” and “Night of the Living Dead” this fall, with some restrictions because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Only 100 people will be allowed in the auditorium each night of the performance of “Steel Magnolias,” which will be performed after Oct. 1, theater teacher Jamie Stephenson said.

The show is “about the bond a group of women share in a small-town Southern community,” according to Wikipedia. The show centers on the lives of the women as they face various challenges. The play was written in 1987 by Robert Harling and was later turned into a popular film of the same name, directed by Herbert Ross and released in 1989.

The “Night of the Living Dead” production will be a bit different, Stephenson said, as it will take place outside.

“Our audience can enjoy a fright fest in their own camp chairs as we create an interactive show around them,” she said.

The show will be performed during the week of Halloween, she said. More specific dates will be available at a later date, she said.

“Night of the Living Dead” is a 1968 American horror film directed by George Romero. The story centers on a group of seven people “who are trapped in a rural farmhouse in western Pennsylvania, which is under assault by an enlarging group of cannibalistic, undead corpses,” according to Wikipedia.