Cat on Hot Tin Roof, The Leanor and Alvin Segal Theatre- Oct. 26- Nov. 16

October 26- November 16, 2008

"You know we just got to love each other an' stay together, all of us, just as close as we can, especially now that such a black thing has come and moved into this place without invitation."- Big Mama

MONTREAL October 2008- The Leanor and Alvin Segal Theatre is excited to offer this anticipated production marking the third chapter of the Segal mounting the great plays of Tennessee Williams. Beginning with A Streetcar Named Desire, a historic first co-production with Soulpepper Theatre Company, it continued with Chris Abraham's award-winning production of The Glass Menagerie. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is Williams' iconic tale of passion and dispassion in the heat of a 1950's Southern night, where poetry, bourbon and desire hang in the air. Directed by the much-respected Greg Kramer.

In this story, Brick, the former star athlete, and his wife Maggie 'The Cat', have returned to his father's Mississippi cotton plantation to celebrate the ailing Big Daddy's birthday. Daughter-in-law Maggie fights to save her marriage to the alcoholic and despairing Brick who blames her for his best friend's suicide. Rivalry and intrigue flourish as the conflict escalates over who will finally gain control over the property. Through all the bickering and fighting, Big Mama tries desperately to hold onto whatever happiness and dignity the family still possesses. However, a storm of confrontations is brewing, and she is powerless to stop it.

Subjects such as cancer and the idea of "mendacity" reverberate through the lies told to protect and ease each other's pain. Societal rules of conduct are examined, as the old world explodes against the new. Kramer sees this mirrored today, "We are split into puritans, libertines and prudes." He also comments first-hand on how illness can take its toll, "As a cancer survivor myself, I understand only too well how the disease can affect a family. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof deals with this issue in a brutally honest way."

Beautifully placed in the arc of the season, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof fits perfectly between Dangerous Liaisons and Buried Child, following the former work as a game of smouldering sexual politics with strong women taking the lead role in the match, and preceding the later play in its examination of the breakdown of the traditional North American family. "One of the key aspects of our theatre's mandate is to produce classics that remain socially relevant today," Wasserman explained. Director Greg Kramer concurs, "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is a gloriously human work, celebrating both the joys and pains of love, and is probably one of the finest works for the stage ever written, as astonishingly true and powerful today as it ever was."

The established, powerhouse Canadian cast includes Todd Sandomirsky (Stratford Festival) as Brick, Severn Thompson (Stratford and Shaw) as Maggie, Sharon Bakker (the original Paper Wheat and Saskatchewan Theatre Hall of Fame) as Big Mama and Barry Flatman (The Donnellys and multi-award nominee) as Big Daddy. Completing the extended family and friends are Bill Croft, Paula Jean Hixson, Jesse Todd, Gordon Masten, Bill Corday and Lindsay Owen Pierre.

The design team, including the always-creative John C. Dinning, set; Luc Prairie, lighting; James Lavoie costumes, Troy Slocum, sound and George Allister, video design, will turn the plantation home around and expose all to the outside elements. Todd Bricker is the stage manager and Lori Allen completes the team as assistant stage manager.

"Nothing's more determined than a cat on a hot tin roof. Is there? Is there, baby?"- Maggie

88.5 CBC Radio One proudly presents Sunday-@-the-Segal with Diana Leblanc

Sunday, October 26, 11am. Admission is free.

Join us for another season of intimate conversation and riveting lectures as we welcome Diana Leblanc talking about

the various approaches to directing American classics.

Monday Night Talkbacks presented by Pratt and Whitney Canada

As usual following the play, some of the actors and/or designers will remain on stage to take questions from the audience.

Run:

October 26-November 16

Previews:

October 26 1:30 pm

October 27-29 8:00 pm

October 29 1:00pm

Sunday-@-the-Segal:

October 26 11:00 am

Media Opening Night:
Thursday, October 30 8:00 pm

Performances:

Monday - Thursday, 8:00 pm

Saturday 8:30 pm

Sunday 7:00 pm

Matinˆ©es:

Wednesdays 1:00 pm

Sundays 2:00 pm

Box Office:

(514) 739-7944

www.segalcentre.org

Segal Centre for Performing Arts at the Saidye

5170 cote St. Catherine Rd.

Admission (514) 790-1245 www.admission.com

Greg Kramer- Director

Previously for the Segal, Greg appeared in The Tempest and Amadeus as well as being the magic consultant for Houdini. An award-winning novelist, actor and director, Greg has made Montreal his home since 1999. His credits now cover twenty-five years and well over 100 productions across the country, including work at the Vancouver Playhouse, Arts Club Theatres, Manitoba Theatre Centre, Imago, Buddies-in-Bad-Times, Native Earth and the National Arts Centre. He most recently directed Have a Heart at the Centaur Theatre and The Gut Girls for Concordia University, and was seen this summer as Prospero in The Tempest in Montreal parks for Repercussion Theatre. His fourth book, Wally, is published by Riverbank Press and he is working on his latest, a medical dystopia.

Todd Sandomirsky ’ÄìBrick

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof marks Todd's Leanor and Alvin Segal Theatre debut. Recent credits: Agent Kohn in XIII starring Stephen Dorff on NBC this fall, Shishkebab in Outlander with Jim Caviziel, Glaring Man in The Tracey Fragments starring Ellen Page, Terry Bennett in the Golden Globe-nominated The State Within starring Jason Isaacs, and at Stratford Festival he appeared in Hamlet, Much Ado About Nothing, and Treasure Island. Todd co-founded Toronto's Shakespeare in the Rough, playing Berowne in Love's Labour Lost and Cloten in Cymbeline.

Severn Thompson- Maggie

Severn is very happy to be making her first appearance at the Leanor and Alvin Segal Theatre. She has just finished her third season at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival where she was in the Spanish classic Fuente Ovejuna, the Greek classic Trojan Woman and a new play, Palmer Park. The season before she played Portia in Merchant of Venice. Severn has also spent several seasons at the Shaw Festival and has worked at a number of theatres across the country, such as Theatre Passe Muraille, Tarragon, the Globe, Theatre Calgary and the Piggery. Severn is a graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada.

Barry Flatman- Big Daddy

Barry has worked as a professional actor, across North America, for over 40 years. He also produced, wrote, directed and taught for stage, TV, film, and radio, and was nominated for both Juno and Gemini awards. Recent credits include Guns (CBC), The Andromeda Strain for A&E, Saw III (Lion's Gate), The Company (TNT), The State Within (BBC/Shaftesbury), Fatal Error (TBS), and This is Wonderland (CBC). Barry starred in Kevin McCollum's production of White Christmas and in the Toronto premiere of David Hare's Stuff Happens.

Sharon Bakker - Big Mama

Sharon is back in Montreal where she last appeared at the Centaur in Paper Wheat. She has performed across Canada, at Native Earth Performing Arts (Dreary and Izzy); the Blythe Festival (Thirteen Hands, Yesteryear, Quiet in the Land); Alberta Theatre Projects (For the Pleasure of Seeing Her Again); Persephone Theatre (Humanity and No, Waiting for the Parade, The Stone Angel); Sunshine Theatre (The Plum Tree); Rosthern Station Arts Centre (Anne of Green Gable, Dry Streak, The Tomorrow Box); and Manitoba Theatre Centre (Shakespeare's Dog). Sharon was inducted into the Saskatchewan Theatre Hall of Fame in 2003.

Tennessee Williams- Playwright

Tennessee Williams (1911 ’Äì 1983) is regarded as one of America's greatest playwrights. He wrote fiction and motion picture screenplays, but he is acclaimed primarily for his plays’Äînearly all of which are set in the South, but which rise above regionalism to approach universal themes. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for A Streetcar Named Desire in 1948 and for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof in 1955. In addition, The Glass Menagerie (1945) and The Night of the Iguana (1961) received New York Drama Critics' Circle Awards. His 1952 play, The Rose Tattoo, received the Tony Award for best play.