Lively Arts Bringing "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof"

So you think you have a dysfunctional family?  Maybe you can relate to the colorful themes of the performance Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.  Virginia Tech students, faculty, staff and members of the general public will have the opportunity to watch this dramatic story of a powerful southern family on campus tomorrow.

The theatre event was arranged by the Lively Arts committee of Virginia Tech Union (VTU).  “This is a spicy play of intrigue and manipulation and was written by a great artist, Tennessee Williams” said Kerri Friedman, the director of that committee.

Admission to the event costs $7 for Virginia Tech students and $20 for the general public.  Burruss Auditorium will hold the play on Wednesday, April 2, at 7:30p.m.

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof has a respected reputation as a Tennessee Williams’ mysterious masterpiece. The play won both a Pulitzer Prize and a Dramatic Critic Award.  The show was directed by Elia Kazan when it was first produced in 1955 at the Morosco Theatre.

The Montana Repertory Theatre from the University of Montana will perform the play as part of its national tour.

Why are events such as these important to our campus and community?

Friedman answered, “Diversity, Diversity, Diversity…Everyone does not enjoy the same kind of entertainment so we make it our goal to create choice and diversity.”

Thomas Younce, a junior at Virginia Tech, plans to attend the event and said he thinks it is important for college students to watch plays because “theatre gives the viewer entertainment and shows them what others can create, whether it be an adventure, tragedy, comedy, etc.”

Friedman expressed her concern that people sometimes miss out on certain forms of entertainment in rural areas.  “This show and the series itself were
created to reach that other side of entertainment, which typically can only be
found in urban areas.  Blacksburg is not an urban area in terms of that
entertainment so VTU tries to fill that void.”

VTU works very hard to bring entertainment and diverse art forms to our campus.  As Friedman said, “VTU is most know for its concerts but Lively Arts is in charge of that other realm of entertainment, the kind with singing, dancing, acting and, most of all, entertaining.”

The Montana Repertory Theatre has already featured Tennessee Williams twice in the past twenty years.  In 1994 they presented The Glass Menagerie and A Streetcar Named Desire in 2004.