Adapted from the playwright’s own 1952 short story Three Players of a Summer Game under the stage direction of Elia Kazan, Tennessee Williams’ Cat on a Hot Tin Roof a nihilistic play about a cotton tycoon and his relationship with his son and daughter-in-law had its Broadway debut on this day in 1955 and deals with the theme of self-deception. The three-act play was awarded the Pulitzer Prize that year. The original production, hosted by the Morosco Theatre, starred Barbara Bel Geddes, Ben Gazzara and Burl Ives as Big Daddy.