Stepping inside the Park Hall in Ben Lomond for the Mountain Community Theater’s first production of their 43rd season is like taking a ride in Emmett Brown’s DeLorean. The building itself is over 100 years old and retains much of its rustic charm. The stage, however, is a theatrical set that oozes with powerful 1980s energy. As the lights dim, and characters enter the scene, the audience is transported back to an era when call waiting was the cutting edge of telephone technology. This nostalgia for a simpler time has a potent effect for those who remember the big hair and pastel palette of Reagan era America. By the time the play ends and the front doors open, something powerful has transpired as theatergoers return back to the future.

“Steel Magnolias” is a play that depends entirely upon acting and direction to succeed in moving an audience, and this production excels at both. It has no songs, no dancing and it takes place entirely within one set, but the magic it evokes is considerable. Inside Truvy’s Beauty Salon, this fictional world is built up one line at a time through the dialogue, actions and emotions of six women. Their relationships unfold over the course of a few seasons punctuated with changes in decor and fashion. Each character undergoes their own transformation. There are no flat characters in this play, only dynamic women who share a sense of community and a profound love for each other.

Truvy Jones, played by Manirose Bobisuthi, creates the hub for this collective of strong women. The play’s setting is her in-home beauty salon, a former garage enclosed by her husband, so she could — as she smugly states — support his couch potato habits. Jones is an entrepreneur, an employer, a confidant and a consummate stylist. The hip and powerful women of the parish of Chinquapin in northwestern Louisiana frequent her establishment for their beauty treatments and to catch up on gossip and news about local happenings. Bobisuthi bubbles and sparkles as the effervescent aesthetician who believes that “there is no such thing as natural beauty.” Her commitment to hair and nails is only matched by her resolution to “never allow anyone to cry alone.” Jones is the empathetic foundation of this female fellowship.The play begins on the day of her neighbor’s wedding. Shelby is in the chair having her hair done in an elaborate style replete with baby’s breath flowers, against her mother M’Lynn’s wishes. This mother-daughter relationship is the core of the play, and Emerson Kapture and Marnae Taylor have a believable chemistry. Shelby is free-spirited and rebels against the protective wishes of M’Lynn. Kapture portrays this willfulness with just the right amount of self-assertiveness. She does not come across as being driven by ego but her decisions are merely the expression of her own identity. Taylor in turn plays the experience of maternal anxiety with just enough restraint and poise to balance her meddling and controlling nature. It is important that the audience buys that their relationship, although in conflict on the surface, has a deep current of unconditional love, and each actor manages to express that uncanny familial bond.

Annelle Dupuy-Desoto, played by Sarah Mitchler, is a woman “with a past” who is new to town and to Jones’ business where she finds employment as her assistant. Mitchler does an admirable job of playing the sincere newcomer who begins in a state of extreme vulnerability and evolves into a pious believer. Dupuy-Desoto is incapable of insincerity and Mitchler makes her innocence charming. From her anxious beginnings, this character becomes a steadfast member of their community, puzzling the other women with her devotion but ultimately soothing them in a time of need.

Lillian Bogovich plays the recently widowed Claire Belcher, who was married to the mayor of Chinquapin for 49 years. As a long-time first lady, Belcher’s air of importance finds camaraderie among her friends at Truvy’s. She has been the subject of public scrutiny and is now exploring life after being associated with politics. Bogovich portrays this interesting transformation with grace and feeling. Belcher indulges her friends while she searches for a new reason to live and Bogovich gets this quality, the combination of power and kindness, just right.

Last but certainly not least in this sisterhood is Kate Cunningham as Ouiser Boudreaux, a wealthy widow with no children of her own who “has been in a bad mood for decades.” Dripping with attitude, Boudreaux is often the butt of her friends’ jokes, but she gives it as good as she takes it. Cunningham relishes in playing up the cynical counterpoint to the other characters’ romantic ideas. Leaning into her bad attitude makes it even funnier when Boudreaux finds affection again.

This talented sextet of female friends fills the stage with emotion and humor. Their tempo and timing are skillfully managed by Peter Gelblum’s artful direction. While the play explores a wide range of emotions, it is dominated by an upbeat humor that depends upon the quick-witted delivery of lines. Because of the melancholic core of the plot, an ample amount of humor is necessary to create Jones’ favorite emotion: “laughter through tears.” The tears are caused in part by tragic elements of their reality, but they are also triumphant symbols of Shelby’s declaration that she “would rather have 30 minutes of wonderful than a lifetime of nothing special.” This production of “Steel Magnolias” has done nothing less than to create a wonderful representation of human spirit and the ability of friendship to overcome any and every challenge life poses.

“Steel Magnolias” continues Fridays to Sundays through April 13 at Ben Lomond’s Park Hall. Friday and Saturday shows are at 8 p.m. and Sunday matinees are at 2 p.m. For information and tickets, visit mctshows.org.