When Grovetown High School opens in August, Harlem High will lose many of its students and staff.
Harlem High theater teacher Roy Lewis chose to say goodbye with a classic Southern dramedy.
Steel Magnolias opens Thursday and features an all-faculty cast.
"We're getting ready to split with Grovetown (High) and I wanted a chance for some of the teachers who have been with me a while to get back on stage again," Lewis said.
He typically stages a faculty show each year. In recent years, the production has taken the form of a talent show called Faculty Follies .
Steel Magnolias marks a return to traditional theater.
"It's just a great play and it's fun to do," Lewis said. "It has a lot of audience appeal."
Unlike the movie, the play is set solely in a beauty shop for its six-woman cast.
Though the faculty will be in the spotlight, Harlem High drama students worked behind the scenes.
"Students are doing all the technical work," Lewis said. "They're doing the lighting, the sound, the costuming, the sets, the props, the stage management and they're coaching the faculty with their lines."
The $10 admission will fund scholarships for drama students and cystic fibrosis research.
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