Newnan Theatre Company's Production of Tennessee Williams' CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF Opens Today

Newnan Theatre Company's Tennessee Williams' CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF opens today, March 10, 2016. The show will run for two consecutive weekends, ending on March 20. This classic play first premiered in 1955 and has been one of the most known of Williams' works. It was also the author's personal favorites of his own work.

Director Paul Conroy has spent almost three summers bringing this production to life as part of his work for a Masters' Degree from Roosevelt University in Chicago. "I have researched this play further than most people have researched their own ancestry," says Conroy. "With this show, the characters and their motives have so much weight on the story, it was important that every cast member knew who they were portraying intimately."

In the story, Brick Pollitt, a fallen football idol, has returned home with his sultry wife, Maggie, to celebrate the homecoming of Big Daddy Pollitt, the patriarch of the Pollitt family and owner of most everything in their Mississippi town. Big Daddy has been away at a special clinic, having tests done. The results of those tests, though, become the focus of the plot, as Brick's brother, known as "Gooper," begins his quest to usurp Brick's claim to the Pollitt fortune. However, Brick has his own problems, physically and matrimonially.

"It has long been said that family crises bring out the worst in every family," says Bert Lyons, who is portraying Big Daddy. "It is a sad thing to acknowledge, but blood kin can turn on one another over any little thing. When it is a family fortune, though, it can become every man and woman for themselves."

Along with Lyons, the cast includes Scott Berta as Brick, Nicole Walker Smith as Maggie, and Lisa Boyd as family matriarch Big Momma Pollitt. Justin Dilley plays conniving brother Gooper, and Pamela DeRitis plays his wife, Mae, known to the family as "Sisterwoman". "Mae may seem like a pretty benign character, but she is one of the driving forces to cut Brick out of the family," says DeRitis. "She cuts like a knife, especially when she faces off with Maggie "the Cat"."

Tennessee Williams' CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF opens on the Newnan Theatre Company Mainstage on March 10th, and runs two consecutive weekends until March 20th. Show times are 8 PM for the Thursday through Saturday night performances. The Sunday shows are matinee performances, and curtain time on Sunday is 3 PM. The show does contain mature content, as most of Williams' shows do. Tickets are available now on the Newnan Theatre Company website, www.newnantheatre.org, or by phone at calling 770.683.6282.

Pictured: Scott Berta as "Brick" and Nicole Walker Smith as "Maggie" in NTC's CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF, which opens Thursday, March 10, 2016.

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