CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF Actor Tony Roach Proposes to Girlfriend in New Hope, PA

After weeks performing in the Tennessee Williams’ “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” at Bucks County Playhouse, actor Tony Roach found himself celebrating a dramatic moment of his own in New Hope.

Roach, who stars as “Gooper” in the production running through May 23, recently proposed to his girlfriend, Aria Braswell, on the Mechanic Avenue Bridge overlooking the Delaware Canal.

Roach, who biked through New Hope several years ago and remembered the town fondly, said spending several weeks here during the run of “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” made the moment feel even more meaningful.

“I got down on one knee and in the middle of my proposal,” Roach said, “Aria shouted …  ‘What? What?’ Then, ‘Yes! Yes!’ She knew it was happening eventually — just not now.”

Braswell, a fiction writer and vocal coach, was caught completely by surprise. Roach had told her the cast was heading to a nearby bar after the performance, only to stop on the bridge and get down on one knee. She said, “Getting engaged in this beautiful town named New Hope, in mid-spring, felt like a perfect time and place for a new beginning.”

About Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

A battle of wills erupts as a wealthy Southern family clash over inheritance, loyalty, truth and desire during Big Daddy’s explosive 65th birthday celebration. Roach portrays Gooper, one of Big Daddy’s ambitious sons, in a production critics have called “scorching,” “powerful,” and “riveting.”