Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams

Peabody resident Nick Raponi plays Big Daddy in Salem State Theatre's productiion of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Tennessee Williams' Pulitzer prize winning masterwork opens November 21 in the university's Mainstage Theatre.

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is set in the Mississippi Delta plantation home of Big Daddy Pollitt, a wealth cotton grower. The family has gathered to celebrate Big Daddy’s birthday and his recent diagnosis of good health. However, when we discover that Big Daddy's diagnosis is a lie and that he is actually dying of cancer, it is clear that the Pollitt family have other motives for being here. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof has all of the earmarks of a Williams's drama. We are asked to face the lies we tell, and we are forced to face emotional truths, such as, ambivalence in sexual orientation, disaffection with our place in the world, and, most importantly, the difficulty of maintaining intimate relationships. The play focuses on Brick, a young man descending into alcoholism following the death of his college friend, and his wife Maggie’s struggle to stop his drinking so that he can take over his dying father's plantation.

One of the challenges of mounting a production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is that everyone has a familiarity or, at least, a passing knowledge of the play. Everyone thinks that they know the truth about Brick and Maggie and Big Daddy. Like in life, just when you think you know someone, there is always something hidden you may have missed. 

November 21–23, 7:30 pm
December 5–7, 7:30 pm
December 8, 2 pm

Tickets: $15 general/$10 students and seniors
Purchase at salemstatetickets.com or 978.542.6365

Speech Communication pre-show discussion: Why Do We Lie? Deceit in Big Daddy's Family
Thursday, December 5, 6:30 pm