If you’ve seen the film but not the play, catch ‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof’ at Springer

Tennessee Williams’ Pulitzer prize winning play about a Southern family in crisis opens Jan. 24 on the Springer Opera House’s mainstage in Emily Woodruff Hall.

“Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” set on a hot summer night in the Mississippi Delta, centers around the Pollitt family — Brick and Maggie, Big Daddy and Big Mamma, and Mae and Gooper (and their children). The production’s director Topher Payne said though it’s a classic, many don’t really know the material.

“There are a lot of people who of course have seen the film with Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman, “ Payne said, “but it tends to be one of those shows that people know about, more than they know it.”

Payne said people also don’t give the drama enough credit for its humor.

“Laughter through tears is not uniquely southern, but we mastered it,” Payne said, “and I love the humor in this piece, and the delight of the language, and just the comedy that comes out of who these people are.”

Payne, a Mississippi native, said Williams’ writing and the actors’ performances help reveal what lies underneath, both by what is said and what is left unsaid.

“There’s what they say and what they mean,” Payne said. “There’s a beauty of language and nuance of language in the South that Tennessee Williams captured in such an extraordinary way. It’s the reason we’re still doing his shows today.”

Erin Burnett (Maggie), Josh Brook (Brick), Karen Howell (Ida), Amanda Cucher (Mae) and Rial Ellsworth (Doc Baugh) are making their Springer debuts.

Joe Collins (Reverend Tooker); Adam Archer (Gooper), a Columbus State University graduate now residing in Chicago; and Paul Pierce (Big Daddy), the Springer’s producing artistic director, are returning to the mainstage.

Performing the roles of the Pollitt children are Victoria Saxon (Dixie), Camille Tyler (Trixie), Sylus Goodwin (Buster), Patch Hearn (Sonny) and Libby Meeks (Polly).

Performances are scheduled Jan. 24-26 and Jan. 31 at 7:30 p.m., Jan. 27 at 2:30 p.m., Feb. 1-2 at 7:30 p.m., and Feb. 3 at 2:30 p.m. Go to springeroperahouse.org or call the box office at (706) 327-3688 for ticket pricing, availability and more information.