Maggie the cat to plant paws into NW Campus production
by Ashley Clark, entertainment editor

     Rick Reaves’ beautifully designed bedroom set is a perfect and comfortable setting for NW Campus’ production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof opening tomorrow in the NW theater.
     Directing the Pulitzer Prize- winning Tennessee Williams play is T.J. Walsh, who is visiting from TCU.
     “He is awesome. I really enjoy working with him,” Leah Carithers, actress, said. “He’s helped me so much.”
     Walsh taught drama classes on NW last semester where some students were first introduced to him.
     Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is a sultry story set in the Mississippi Delta. “Maggie the Cat” is aching for the touch of her husband, Brick. However, the past must unfold before their love can be rekindled.
     A provocative drama of greed and deception, the story is filled with famous characters whose emotional intensity and driving needs have left audiences breathless.
     The cast includes Justin McKean as Big Daddy, Sandra Fulks as Big Mama, Lindsey Simmons as Mae, Burton Poe as the Preacher, Jeff Ratliff as the Doctor and Matt Simpson as Gooper.
     Seth Martin will play Brick, the good-looking but tormented brooding, boozing, ex-high school football star—a role made famous by Paul Newman in the 1958 film.
Carithers will play Maggie, Brick’s beautiful young wife, following the act of Elizabeth Taylor.
     “I didn’t miss any lines so far,” Carithers called out to director Walsh during a rehearsal break, “but I did paraphrase quite a bit.”
     Carithers has pages of dialogue to memorize, yet she has done so seemingly without complications
     “I’ve been doing this for about 13 years, and I guess I just have a knack for it,” she said.
     The line memorization is not the challenge Carithers relates most with the character.
     “The biggest challenge was finding her hidden emotions. She talks a lot up front, but she feels differently than the things she is saying,” she said.
     “It was tough to figure out what she was really thinking and portray that. It requires a lot of body language. I had to think a lot about how to move my eyes and eyebrows or how to turn my head and things like that,” she said.
     Carithers also feels that women will find the piece the most enjoyable.
     “I think many women can relate to Maggie in that when she has something in her mind that she wants, she makes that her goal no matter the consequences. She also has a million emotions brewing inside her at once,” she said.
     Aside from the beautiful set, the script and the talent of the actors, costumes are also special.
     Walsh is excited about the costume designed for Fulks, who plays Big Mamma in the show. The actress is young, attractive and feminine. However, Walsh said the costuming will conceal all of that.
     The play runs tomorrow through Sunday, Oct. 8, at 8 p.m. A 2 p.m. matinee will be Saturday and Sunday along with the evening performances.
     Call 817-515-7724 for reservations, which are advised.