Set for a May 26-June 26 run at Hartford Stage, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof will be directed by artistic director Michael Wilson (Enchanted April).
Joining Ashley in the cast will be Alyssa Bresnahan (currently starring in A Moon for the Misbegotten at Long Wharf Theatre) as Maggie, James Colby (Hartford's Camino Real and as Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire) as Brick and William Biff McGuire (Morning's at Seven) as Big Daddy. Bill Kux will play Gooper and Natalie Brown takes on Sister Woman.
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof finds a former football hero drowning in his grief after losing his best friend while his desirous wife longs to produce an heir to the family fortune in danger of going to his older, fruitful brother as their ailing father condition worsens.
Ashley earned her Tony for her turn in Take Her, She's Mine. The actress is known for her friendship with Williams — which led to her performances in his The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Any More, The Red Devil Battery Sign, Sweet Bird of Youth and The Glass Menagerie as well as her turn in the 1974 Broadway revival of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Ashley has also appeared on Broadway in Enchanted April, Agnes of God, Gore Vidal's The Best Man and Neil Simon's Barefoot in the Park.
McGuire, Tony Award-nominated for Morning's at Seven, played on Broadway in Conversations With My Father and the original productions of South Pacific, Dance Me a Song, The Trial of the Catonsville Nine, Father's Day, Camelot, A View From the Bridge and Mary, Mary. Other credits include The Day Emily Married, Finian's Rainbow, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Last Yankee, The Time of Your Life and the films "Serpico" and the original "The Thomas Crown Affair." The Connecticut company currently presents Eduardo Machado's The Cook on its mainstage (through March 27) and will continue its season with Karin Coonrod's staging of Othello (April 7-March 8).
Tickets to Cat on a Hot Tin Roof at Hartford Stage, 50 Church Street in downtown Hartford, CT will be available by calling (860) 527-5151 . For more information, visit www.hartfordstage.org.
