Bernie Cardell

Bernie Cardell (Director)

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

MARCH 11 — APRIL 24

Tell us about you. Will our audiences have seen you or your work before at Vintage?

I’ve been involved with Vintage since 2008 and have served as the Artistic Director since 2016. Audiences will have seen my direction most recently for Fireflies. Before that, there is Marvin’s Room, The Addams Family, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, and The Boys in the Band. I’ve been on stage a few times at Vintage as well: Bullets Over Broadway, It’s Only a Play, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, and Leading Ladies.

Other than theatre, I have a day job as the Accounts Payable Supervisor for a broadband company. It’s actually a great combination of spreadsheets during the day and script sheets at night.

What excites you the most about Cat on a Hot Tin Roof?

There is an electrical current that runs through this play. It crackles. The poetry of Tennessee Williams has an effect of being a period piece and something extremely immediate. And when you get a cast that understands how to harness that electricity, it creates an unforgettable experience. AND, we’re in the small theatre at Vintage, so the action is only a few feet from you. Everyone has a front row seat to the intensity, poetry, sadness, and exhilaration of this play.

What is the biggest challenge in directing this show?

This is a very well-known American classic, so there are a lot of expectations that come with that. So my challenge (opportunity) with directing this piece comes in making sure we are 100% honest with the playwright’s intentions combined with the massive talent of this cast to make the characters their own. I feel like we’ve been able to combine those two elements to create a powerful, combustible evening of theatre.

What do you hope audiences will take away from Cat on a Hot Tin Roof?

I want the audience to be as enthralled with these performances as I am, and I want them to get that feeling of being “lifted” that you get when you see good theatre. I love it when I see a really great performance and I leave the theatre a little more open than when I came in. I want that for everyone.

Describe yourself using only three words.

That’s impossible, but hypothetically, let’s say passionate, funny, and happy.