Two professors will be among the cast of the Dillard University’s African American version of Tennessee Williams’ Pulitzer Prize-winning play “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” set for the weekends of March 19 and 26 in Cook Theatre on campus.
The mostly student cast will include theatre department Chair Sherri Marina as Big Mama Pollitt and department Technical Director Cortheal Clark as Big Daddy Pollitt in performances scheduled for 8 p.m. March 19-20 and March 26-27. Matinee performances are scheduled at 3 p.m. both Sundays. Tickets are $12 for the general public, $5 for DU students and $7 for other students.
A “Dollar Night” performance was held at 8 p.m. Wednesday; a second “Dollar Night” performance is set for 8 p.m. tonight, with understudies portraying Big Mama and Big Daddy.
The student cast includes senior Rodney Graham of Los Angeles as Brick; junior Ralshella Washington of New Orleans as Maggie; junior Kari Cojoe of New Orleans as Mae; junior Chris Robinson of Miami as Gooper; freshman Deshawn Dabney of New Orleans as Lacey; senior Tedrine Glover of New Orleans as Sookey; freshman Kevin Perry of New Orleans as Dr. Baugh; and freshman Josef Pons of New Orleans as the Rev. Tooker. Senior Ian Lawrence of Carson City, Calif., and junior Yaschicia Collins of New Orleans are understudies to Big Daddy and Big Mama.
Faculty member Ray Vrazel, director of the play, sets the action in 1980 on the occasion of Big Daddy’s 65th birthday, which centers on a young man’s disaffection and descent into alcoholism following the death of a college friend. Meanwhile, his wife tries to ensure he takes over his dying father’s 28,000-acre plantation in the Mississippi Delta.
The performance of “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” – Williams’ third significant play following “The Glass Menagerie” in 1944 and “A Streetcar Named Desire” in 1947 – will coincide with the 24th Annual Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literacy Festival.
For box office information, call (504) 816-4857.