09/17/2026
What is your name? Trey Austin Reeves
What is your role in this show? My favorite one: the director!
Steel Magnolias is set in Louisiana. Have you ever visited Louisiana? If so, what part? Unfortunately, I have not. I have been to most of the states in America, either to live or to drive through, but Louisiana has thus far eluded me. As a fan of jazz and pastries, I would love to go to New Orleans one day, however.
Steel Magnolias is set in a salon. What is your favorite hairstyle and why? What is the worst haircut you've ever received? My favorite hairstyle on myself is whichever one I have at the moment. It changes every few years. On other people, though, anyone who can pull off big hairstyles like Mohawks or complex dye jobs has my immense respect. My worst hairstyle is what I had when I first entered college. I had a two-toned bleach blonde undercut that went under my jaw and made me look like an anime character. Good for others, but I do not cherish those photos.
Is this your first show with Sunset Players or have you performed with them before? This is my first show with Sunset Players, but my second in the Dunham Arts Center. Hopefully this is far from the end of the connection between myself and Sunset Players.
What has been your favorite role to date? When I played Tick in Priscilla, Queen of the Desert in college. The amount of pride I felt for performing such a powerful role, and the amount of respect I felt for drag performers after just touching the waters of the pond were immense.
Which scene is your favorite and why? This is a show of four near-perfect scenes that feel like they were ripped straight out of the real world and slapped onto the page. Hard to pick a favorite. That being said, I would love to highlight the argument between Shelby and M’Lynn at the beginning of Scene 2. It is a remarkably impactful moment between a mother who wants nothing more than to protect her daughter and a daughter who wants nothing more than to live unimpeded.
How do you prepare for a show? What are your pre-show rituals? I try to let my mind wander a lot. Sometimes it’s tempting to tell yourself to stay rooted in reality, stay stressed, stay “working.” But my best solutions to problems always come when I just let my brain look at the whole show instead of zeroing in on the one loose screw. My pre-show ritual as director is to make sure I check in on each of my actors, even if only for a moment, before sitting in the back of the theatre and watching the crowd filter in. I get so excited just thinking about how each person is going to react to what we’ve been working on.
See Trey's and all the cast and crew's hard work -- Steel Magnolias runs September 18-26 at Sunset Players. Tickets can be purchased at the door or skip the line and buy them ahead of time online at https://sunsetplayers.org/
