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Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
By Tennessee Williams
Directed by Mary Beth Geppert
Produced by Jonathan Hetler & Amy Farkas Scenic Design by Gene Deible
Lighting Design by TBD
Costume Design by Ken Wozetek
Sound Design by Ethan Miller
Stage Managed by Noah Miller
Penn State Citizen’s Bank Downtown Theatre Center
146 South Allen Street
State College, PA
The Pollitt family plantation household is celebrating Big Daddy’s sixty-fifth birthday. The mood is somber, despite the festivities, because a number of evils poison the gaiety: Big Daddy’s illness of the last five years; the greed of inheritance; the sins of the past; and the desperate, clawing hopes for the future. The Pollitt family fights tooth and nail as the truth (that Big Daddy is dying) slowly makes the rounds. Big Daddy’s daughter-in-laws, Maggie and Mae, fuel the catfight. His eldest son and corporate attorney, Gooper, is wed to the fallen, yet fertile, socialite, Mae. The family golden, baby boy, Brick, is wed to his college sweetheart, Margaret. Maggie “the cat” fights against Gooper and Mae’s wiles as she tempts her husband into returning to their marriage bed. Maggie has her own interests at heart in wanting to become pregnant. But, she also wants to make amends to Brick for an error in judgment that is costing her her marriage and has turned Brick to the bottle and onto the sofa. Maggie may only win this fierce family battle by successfully ensnaring Brick. As we watch the truth and judgments play out, Tennessee Williams’ best play at its most basic, confronts the issue that runs through all great drama: the conflict between truth and illusion. Set on a rich Mississippi plantation, Williams’ shows the conflict from many angles. He states, “I’m trying to catch the true quality of experience in a group of people, that cloudy, flickering, evanescent—fiercely charged!—interplay of live human beings in the thundercloud of a common crisis.” The play is “a snare for the truth of human experience.”
This production is part of our 2015 Season. If you are a season ticket or flex pass subscriber, tickets selected online will be applied toward your season subscription or flex pass upon checking out at the end of your order. At this time, all persons requiring wheelchair seating must call the box office at (814) 234-7228 to purchase tickets or to make your reservations. All tickets are non-refundable. Tickets can be exchanged with notice for another performance but the same seats cannot be guaranteed. Please arrive early – in the event of a sell-out performance, we will allow people on the waiting list to purchase unclaimed seats at show time.
State College Community Theatre 
