LATEST PROJECT
BIG DADDY IN CAT ON HOT TIN ROOF
HELL-BENT FOR LEATHER
Directed by Terry Ray
Tennessee Williams’ 1955 Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece, CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF, holds monumental importance for the LBGTQ+ community as one of the earliest mainstream American plays to center its narrative on repressed homosexuality, internalized homophobia, and the destructive nature of the closet. Openly gay at a time when few were, Williams wrote CAT at the height of the Lavender Scare, bravely breaking new ground by placing same-sex desire directly onto the Broadway stage. The Bent’s production will explore a new approach to bring to the forefront the secreted desire between Brick and his best friend, Skipper.
Special thanks to Jason Mannino, publiclst for the cast photo graphics and to Jason Reale, graphic designer, for the poster.
Headshot by Tara Howard
HELL-BENT FOR LEATHER isn’t just a campy romp in choir robes and chaps—it’s a gut-punch excavation of growing up queer in the Southern Baptist church. Scripture as weapon. Music, humor, and leather as armor. Beneath the bawdy laughter lies a story of overcoming shame, confronting trauma, and reclaiming queer identity with leather, defiance, and Sondheim.
The score moves through Broadway and Off-Broadway classics, hidden gems, and unexpected detours—Cole Porter’s wit, Craig Carnelia’s heart, Stephen Schwartz’s yearning, Cy Coleman’s swagger, and Sondheim’s scalpel-sharp truth alongside soul-stirring surprises from Tim Minchin and openly gay country-western singer/songwriter Adam Mac.
Poster image inspired by the photography of Tara Howard