Tennessee Williams' Pulitzer Prize-winning drama about a Southern family fraught with secrets will be staged by the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point's Department of Theatre and Dance Oct. 12-14 and 17-20.
"Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" will be performed at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Oct. 12-13, and Wednesday through Saturday, Oct. 17-20 in the Studio Theatre in the Noel Fine Arts Center. A matinee show will be staged at 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 14. The show contains adult themes and language and is not for younger children.
Set in the Mississippi Delta of the 1950s, "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" is a time capsule of the southern culture of the time, said the play's director, Assistant Professor Jared Hanlin. Plantation owner Big Daddy Pollitt is marking his 65th birthday, while his alcoholic son, Brick, and daughter-in-law, Maggie, battle each other and Brick's older brother and his wife. The play won Williams the Pulitzer in 1955 and in 1958 it became an Academy Award-nominated film starring Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman.
The student actors are diving into their characters, said Hanlin, as they are challenged with portraying people with depth of experience who take part in emotional and physical violence. They are also perfecting their southern accents. These aspects allow Hanlin to put his expertise in stage combat and dialects to use throughout the play.
The Studio Theatre setting allows the audience to be closely immersed into the characters' tense relationships, Hanlin said.
"The play is about facing truths that are difficult, and it is a powerful examination in how we lie to ourselves and each other," he said. "It shares views on sexuality, homophobia, racism and marriage. These themes are worth examining. The play shows how far we've come, and what we are still grappling with in society.
"My hope is that audiences will be able to recognize both the virtues and faults of this family and recognize those traits in their own life," Hanlin said.
Tickets for "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" are $23 for adults and seniors or $13 for age 17 and under, and are available at the UW-Stevens Point Information and Tickets Office in the Dreyfus University Center concourse, by calling 715-346-4100 or at http://tickets.uwsp.edu. Discounts are available for UW-Stevens Point students, faculty and staff.
Tickets are also available for the First Nighters package Friday, Oct. 12, which includes dinner before the performance (www.uwsp.edu/theatre-dance/Pages/First-Nighters.aspx).
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