Against a backdrop of acceptance, ambivalence and denial, a social commentary of same-sex relationships in Oprah Winfrey's production of Alice Walker's Color Purple and implied in Tennessee Williams' Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, begs for further examination.

The Color Purple, with its run on Broadway ended, attracted not only notable stars to many of its leading roles, but hordes of African-Americans who came to see the performance. To some it reflected suffering and redemption running like a strong river through their lives and to others it was an opportunity to see their favorite stars up close and personal.

At the end of the play, Channel 7, ABC-News Anchor Sade Baderinwa hosted a question and answer session with the cast and audience. Without re-hashing the play, I asked a question about the significance to African-American women of the kiss shared between Celie and Shug Avery, when Shug first came to visit. The response from Zonya Love (appropriate surname?) the leading lady and from Angela Robinson, the actress who played Shug was anything but satisfactory. At best they skirted around the issue and dissembled, referring to the reaction of Robinson's mother coming to see the play and after seeing it made a dismissive comment about the kiss between Celie and Shug.

What piqued my interest and made me sit up was how acceptable the kiss between Ceile and Shug was to everyone in the theater who saw the depth of the relationship between two women shared so openly, with ease and without question, much less a raised eyebrow. I looked around the theater in the dim light to see how people were reacting; everyone's eyes were transfixed, without a blink, on the stage. Faces were set impassively, everyone absorbing what was playing out in front of them.

It is said that art imitates life. If in real life women are having close sexual relations with each other in private and in secret, what about the denials and vitriol against same-sex relations? That long passionate kiss between Celie and Shug should have stirred catcalls and jeers, if this was unacceptable behavior. Is this an accurate reflection of the closeness between women, but is denied, unaccepted, and covered in pretense?

While many women would scoff at a same-sex relationship, between two women, the lack or absence of any type of reaction, averse or accepting, points to a development and an evolution in social awareness: that two women should kiss on stage.

Understandably, the suffering, the pain, and the loneliness Celie experienced when Nettie, her sister, was sent away no doubt left a void in each other's world. She and her sister were companions in suffering whose deep love for each other was forged in the fires of pain and hardship and was the means to a flight of fantasy of their creation to escape from the realities of their lives. But, when Shug came to visit, Celie was so desperate for companionship, her feelings of emptiness in need of fulfillment, and to identify with another woman, gravitated to her. Shug, on the other hand, insecure and with her own low-self esteem issues, was drawn to the appearance of strength and stability, in Celie.

Whether sociologically or psychologically, the kiss could be seen as an expression of a longing and satisfaction and proved to be the bond between Celie and Shug. When Shug eventually left Celie and returned, then left again, Celie at first pined for Shug, but overcame her absence and seemed to be filled with strength and purpose to the point where she didn't need Shug anymore. But, the Color Purple which began with abuse, poverty, and pain was resolved with forgiveness, care, concern, prosperity and a renewed sense of the family unit that had been tested, battered, stripped, survived, and reconstituted stronger than before.

On the opposite side of this tale is the raw exposure of a dysfunctional family in Cat On A Hot Tin Roof. Indeed, the actors' selfish agendas and greed only served to heighten their individual sense of expectation, like "cats on a hot tin roof," ready to spring into the air, to escape the heat on the soft exposed skin of their paws. Like the Color Purple, Cat On A Hot Tin Roof in its limited run, attracted some famous actors, James Earl Jones as Big Daddy, Phylicia Rashas as Big Momma, Anika Noni Rose as Maggie, and Terrance Howard as Brick. The characters were all motivated by greed, some form of selfishness or pretense: hoping Big Daddy would die and leave the estate to them, driven to wresting control of another through pregnancy, and yet, others were anxious their secrets be preserved.

As each other’s layers is peeled away, we are left wondering: why did Maggie have sex with Skipper, if she actually did, or was she saying she did just to get a rise[pun] out of Brick? And, what secret is Brick harboring?

Brick is pursued by Maggie, his recent wife, to become a father. In Maggie's mind, a child would not only cement her relationship with Brick but solidify her position in the family and so she and Brick would inherit the estate when Big Daddy dies. With Big Daddy's death from cancer looming, who else would inherit and take over management of the estate? As the story unfolds, Brick's alcoholism is already a problem, but one which is known, tolerated as befitting men who drink, and passed off as normal. But when Big Daddy gets involved and begins to interrogate Brick about his drinking it emerges that Brick's alcoholism is unrelated to him being cheated on by a woman or feeling aggrieved over some slight or insult to his manhood by a woman. Big Daddy, with his crude methods, was able to deduce that Brick's drinking was to hide, escape and deny the relationship that existed between him and Skipper.

Behind his relentless questioning, Big Daddy, in as much as he didn’t get a direct answer from Brick as to whether or not Brick's drinking was tied to the closeness with Skipper and Skipper's death, nonetheless expressed his concerned for Brick's health. What was Brick's relationship with Skipper? We were told they were young men who grew up together and were close friends. How close were they? It is obvious that Brick's drinking, intending to hide his feelings, rather drew attention to them. Brick was undoubtedly caught in his own Catch-22: drinking to hide his feelings over Skipper and Skipper's death and drawing attention to his feelings by his drinking.

What should he do? Come clean and admit to Big Daddy and Momma and to Maggie, that he loved Skipper much closer than two very good friends? Is he to admit to a particular friendship? It is clear, his drinking is a pathetic attempt to hide his grief, longing and desire, not for Maggie, but for Skipper, and like a Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, he is filled with anxiety: he can't stay on the roof - he misses Skipper so much it hurts, so he drinks, but that is drawing attention to his problem; he wants to, but is afraid to say how deeply he is hurting, because if he does, he runs the risk of losing everything.