Unconventional ‘Cat’ comes to Price Theater
March 14, 2008

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Though it’s been the source of five Broadway productions, two TV movies and one Academy Award Best Picture, the “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” that sashays onto the Price Theater stage next week may not be as familiar to you as you might think. Director Kim Barber Knoll has returned to Tennessee Williams’ original script for this production—and that makes for a very different kind of cat, she believes.

“This is not the movie, and I think people are going to be surprised,” said the Chair and Professor of Theatre Arts. The original play differs in many ways from the film and even from the original Broadway production, which Williams adapted to suit director Elia Kazan.

But perhaps it’s the very nature of Williams’ words themselves that allow for the many different takes on the work.

“Williams’ dialog, while incredibly poetic, is character-driven and very human,” Knoll said. “I could rehearse it every day and hear something new. It’s just so layered.

“He describes this household as a ‘cacophony of sound.’”

Creating that cacophony is a cast of theater veterans—and one newcomer—who will bring to life Williams’ tale of a feuding Mississippi family who gathers to celebrate the birthday of its ailing patriarch.

Carrying the lead roles are senior Whittney Millsap as Maggie, senior Bill Stikes as Brick, junior Ali Grieb as Mae, senior Joshua Williams as Gooper, Adjunct Professor of Theatre Arts Tracy Riggs as Big Mama and well-known local performer Ed Biggs as Big Daddy.

While everyone around him is quite used to the spotlight, Stikes is making his stage debut, almost by accident.

“I was in the library doing some research on the Crimean War … and got tired,” he said. “I remembered seeing an ad for the play, so I went upstairs and found a copy of it and didn’t put it down until the end.

“It’s one of the first plays that I’ve ever connected with.”

He decided to audition, and now finds himself where he once declared he’d never be.

“I told Ms. Knoll in my Cornerstone class as a freshman that I didn’t want to do theater,” he said with a smile.

For Millsap, the play will conclude her college career on the Price stage with a part that she describes as her “most challenging.” Perhaps that should come as no surprise since she’s cast in a role that has been embodied by the likes of Barbara Bel Geddes, Elizabeth Taylor and Natalie Wood.

“It’s exciting to know that you’ve been given the opportunity to work on something that’s an iconic work,” she said. “At the same time, that’s kind of the challenge of it … you feel a need to rise to the occasion.”

While Knoll is happy to have two seniors to capture the youthful fire of Maggie and Brick, she’s also thrilled to have maturity in the parental roles.

“How fortunate we are to be able to work on a script like this and with people like Ed and Tracy who bring so much dimension to it,” she said.

Being true to the character of Big Daddy does involve some explicit language, which Knoll continues to warn audiences about.

“In Big Daddy’s world, that’s the way he would talk,” Biggs said. “We’re not trying to sugar coat it; this is a very intense human being.”

But he hopes that won’t scare audiences away because, as Riggs summarizes, “This is one of America’s greatest playwrights … and one of America’s greatest plays.”

The show opens on Thursday and includes 7:30 p.m. performances on March 20 – 22 and 26 – 28. (There is no Sunday matinee.) To order tickets, call the box office after noon on weekdays at (706) 880-8080.

Remember: the play includes explicit language and mature themes, making it inappropriate for children.

The scenic and lighting designs were created by Assistant Professor Nate Tomsheck. Senior Theatre Arts major Amber Knight designed costumes, and the Jan. Term scenic painting classes designed the backdrop.

The remainder of the cast includes Tim Quirk, Joe White, Henry Smith, Will Allen, Madison Howard, Maddie Simmons and Bailey Allen.

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