Antaeus Theatre Company Inaugurates Glendale Home with CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF

Antaeus Theatre Company inaugurates the newly completed Kiki & David Gindler Performing Arts Center, the company's new home in the City of Glendale, with a fully partner-cast production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams. Opening nights (one for each cast) are set for March 23 and March 24, with low-priced previews beginning March 16. Cameron Watson directs Williams' Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece that was the playwright's personal favorite.

"This Tennessee Williams masterwork, filled with iconic roles and beautiful poetry, is the perfect play to begin our residency in Glendale," stated Antaeus co-artistic directors Bill Brochtrup, Rob Nagle and John Sloan. "Sexy, smoldering and full of mendacity, it's a true American classic. Antaeus has wanted to take on Williams for a while now. It's time!"

Set in the 1950s, this explosive, rich and timeless portrait of a dysfunctional Southern family explores many taboos of mid-century America, including sexuality and greed. Cotton tycoon Big Daddy is dying of cancer. When family members gather at their patriarch's Mississippi Delta plantation to celebrate his 65th birthday, they hide the truth about his diagnosis from him and Big Mama in their scramble to secure their part of the estate. The ensuing stormy confrontations bring to light secrets, raw emotions and unexpected demons that threaten to rip the family apart forever.

In the Antaeus tradition known as "partner casting," Harry Groener and Mike McShane share the role of Big Daddy, with Dawn Didawick and Julia Fletcher partnering as Big Mama. Daniel Bess and Ross Philips play younger son Brick, the former golden boy now on a downward spiral, and Rebecca Mozo and Linda Park are daughter-in-law Maggie "the Cat," passionately fighting to hold onto the love of her alcoholic husband. Brick's indifference and bitterness give older brother Gooper (Michael Kirby and Patrick Wenk-Wolff) and his wife, Mae (Tamara Krinsky and Jocelyn Towne), every opportunity to outbid Brick and Maggie in the on-going fight for the family fortune. Rounding out the cast are John DeMita and Mitchell Edmonds as Reverend Tooker; Tim Halligan and Robert Pine as Dr. Baugh; and, Henry Greenspan, Eliza LeMoine, Vivienne Belle Sievers and Helen Rose Warshofsky as Gooper and Mae's young brood of "no-neck monsters."

Scenic design for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is by Steven C. Kemp; lighting design is by Jared A. Sayeg; costume design is by Terri A. Lewis; sound design is by Jeff Gardner; props design is by Erin Walley; and the dialect coach is Tracy Winters. The assistant director is Portia Juliette and the production stage manager is Kristin Weber.

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof opened on Broadway in March, 1955 and has been revived on Broadway five times since, most recently in 2013 with Scarlett Johansson in the role of Maggie. In 1958, it was made into a motion picture starring Elizabeth Taylor, Paul Newman and Burl Ives.

The new Kiki & David Gindler Performing Arts Center complements Glendale's ongoing commitment to integrate vibrant arts space into the fabric of city life, ensuring the arts remain accessible to all. Located across the street from The Americana at Brand, and just a few blocks from the newly remodeled Glendale Central Library as well as the Alex Theatre, the center promises to build upon Glendale's growing reputation as an arts and entertainment destination. The center includes an 80-seat theater, a reconfigurable 45-seat performance/classroom space, a theater classics library and a lobby art gallery. Antaeus's inaugural gallery exhibition, viewable through May 7, features paintings by playwright William Saroyan, on loan from the William Saroyan Foundation in partnership with the Armenian Dramatic Arts Alliance.

Antaeus is a cooperative theater ensemble founded to empower the actor and to bring classical theater to Southern California. The company exists to create a family of artists and audiences and is dedicated to exploring stories with enduring themes. Taking their company name from the Titan who gained strength by touching the Earth, Antaeus members - many of whom are familiar to film and television audiences - regain their creative strength by returning to the wellspring of their craft: live theater. Members of the company span a wide range of age, ethnicity and experience; they have performed on Broadway, at major regional theaters across the country, in film, television and on local stages, and are the recipients of numerous accolades and awards. Audiences, who never see an understudy due to Antaeus' trademark "partner casting," frequently return to see the same play in the hands of an equally excellent but very different set of actors.

Performances of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof take place March 23 through May 7 on Thursdays and Fridays at 8 pm; Saturdays at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m.; and Sundays at 2 p.m. (no matinee performance on Saturday, March 25). Six preview performances take place March 16 through March 22. Tickets are $30 on Thursdays and Fridays (except March 23 and March 24 which are $34 and include a post-performance reception), and $34 on Saturdays and Sundays. Preview tickets are priced at $15. The Kiki and David Gindler Performing Arts Center is located at 110 East Broadway, Glendale, CA 91205 (between N. Brand Blvd. and Maryland Ave.). The first 90 minutes of parking is free, then $2 per hour, in Glendale Marketplace garage located at 120 S. Maryland Ave (between Broadway and Harvard). The theater is air-conditioned and wheelchair accessible. For reservations and information, call 818-506-1983 or go to www.antaeus.org.

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