Williams' classic play debuts

Tennessee Williams' plays are classics. "A Streetcar Named Desire", "The Glass Menagerie", and possibly his best-known play, "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof", are renowned for their timeless quality, their drama, and their honest portrayal of American life.\nThe Bloomington Area Arts Council and Detour Theatre Company will be presenting "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" as the first show of the season at the John Waldron Arts Center, 122 South Walnut Street. The play takes place in 1950's Mississippi, on Harvey "Big Daddy" Pollitt's 65th birthday. We soon find out that Big Daddy has been ill, and has had tests done. The family knows the results, but they lie to him about the bad news. The two Pollitt sons, Brick and Gooper, swarm home when they learn that their father is dying, hoping for a bit of the inheritance. The title feline is Maggie, Brick's wife, who Brick believes has been sleeping with his best friend. \nTerence Hartnett, the director of the play, believes the timelessness of Williams' plays lies in his understanding of the complexity of human lives.\n"Williams treats his characters in a very humane way, there are no really good characters or really bad characters," Hartnett said. "He's not as judgmental as other American playwrights. Even though a lot of his plays are about how the strong prey upon the weak, he doesn't explore it in simplistic terms."\nResident Joe Gaines, who plays Big Daddy, believes that his character's role in the family and his personal history make him an imposing figure.\n"Big Daddy is the patriarch of the Pollitt family," Gaines said. "He grows up from nothing; he quits school at 10 years old, and grows to be the owner of a 28,000 acre plantation, the biggest in the Delta. He's got a hard edge to him; he's been through a lot."\nWilliams also writes of the illusions that we all embrace in order to deal with reality. The difference, Williams says, depends on whether our reality validates our illusion. \n"I think this is his best play," Hartnett said. "In terms of acting, this is an extraordinarily complex play. This is the best cast I've ever worked with, and we've got a really great tech crew." \nOne of the biggest challenges he faced with the cast was trying to make his youngest actors horrible enough.\n"The only problem is that they're too cute, and too nice. They have a few scenes where they're supposed to be horrible and irritating, and they just won't be the 'no-necked' monsters. They're just too charming. We've been rehearsing them, though, so it'll be great." \nResident Marcia Dangerfield, who portrays Big Momma, said that the complexity of the play made for rich material, although the role was a challenge.\n"The hardest part is not letting her become a joke," Dangerfield said. "And certainly, Big Momma is a scream, but she's also quite pathetic. She's a woman of her era, so playing that level of devotion without it becoming stupid is difficult." \nWilliams' plays are about the complexity of the human experience, Hartnett said, but also the idea that digging into layers of experience only unearths more layers. \n"There are secrets in this family, and everybody knows them," he said. "Everybody remembers the past differently, that's where the conflicts arise. Everyone has a different version of the past; no one's version is completely false or completely true. That's part of what Williams is about, the present is made up of memories, and those memories are subjective."\n"Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" starts tonight and runs Saturday, Sept. 11-13, and 19-20. All shows begin at 8 p.m., and matinee performances are scheduled for 2 p.m. Sept. 14 and 21. Prices are $12 for general admission and $10 for students and seniors.\n-- Contact staff writer Kehla West at krwest@indiana.edu.