Drawing on life experiences, Southern playwright Tennessee Williams fashioned many of his works about the people he knew and the culture in which he lived.

On Friday night, the Westside Theatre Foundation will perform one of his Pulitzer Prize winning plays.

“Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” opens Friday at the Strand Theatre, 717 Clay St., and will run Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 4 and 5. All performances begin at 7:30 p. m.

“We wanted to do this play because it is an American classic,” Jack Burns said.

Burns is the director of “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” the founder of the WTF, and he is the character of Big Daddy in the local performance.

Because the play is a classic, Burns said the cast has worked hard at honing in on their acting skills.

“For most of the cast, this is a stretch. We have had to work at this because it is really serious material. It is the kind of thing the audience is going to have expectations,” Burns said.

“These are some of the most amazing characters, some of the best Williams ever wrote,” Nicholas Ford said.

Ford plays the character of Brick in the Vicksburg production.

“What I have always gotten from Tennessee Williams is I see my own surroundings and my own family reflected in his work,” Ford said, adding he hopes the audience will also be able to connect with the characters.

“I hope people will see themselves in the characters and see their struggles and feel embolden from it or learn from it,” he said.

“This for me personally has been the most emotional work I have ever had to put into a character,” Carolyn Gent said.

Gent plays Brick’s wife, Maggie.

“I really understand Maggie. I feel for her, and it is really neat to feel these feelings and be able to express these on the stage,” she said.

The backdrop for “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” is Big Daddy’s home in Mississippi. The family has gathered for the patriarch’s birthday. Calamity has struck the family, and tensions are running high. Big Daddy is sick, his sons are vying for control of the estate and Brick and Maggie are struggling with their marriage.

“Maggie is afraid her husband doesn’t love her anymore,” Gent said.

“She is called a cat on a hot tin roof because she is just jumping out of her skin and antsy all the time,” Gent said, worried because her husband will not return her affection.

Gent, like Nichols, felt like audience members would be able to relate to William’s characters in “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.”

“I think it is really relatable for an audience here. These are things that families would struggle with in any decade or generation,” she said.

Performers featured in the live production also include Alex Hill, Lurline Simmons, Linda Hadala, Mark Jourdan, Burhman Gates, Laney Schrader, Darby Dew and Blakeney Allen.

Tickets are $10 in advance at the Highway 61 Coffeehouse, 1101 Washington St., and $12 at the door. For more information, call 601-301-3158.