The heart-warming musical “The Spitfire Grill,” an adaptation of the 1996 film that won a Sundance Film Festival Audience Award, will launch the Performing Arts Company’s new season at SUNY Fredonia. The Alice E. Bartlett Theatre curtain will rise Wednesday, Sept. 29, at 8 p.m. for the inaugural offering.
Performances continue Thursday, Friday and Saturday, at 8 p.m., and conclude with a Sunday 2 p.m. performance. Tickets, $5 students and $8 general admission, are available at the SUNY Fredonia Ticket Office at the Williams Center and at the door.
With a central theme of redemption, “The Spitfire Grill” presents the journey of a woman who, upon her release from prison, looks to start her life anew in rural Wisconsin. She starts working as a waitress in a small-town café, but unwittingly finds herself engaged with the community as it participates in its own tenuous renewal.
“This is an event to showcase the numerous talents of a collection of students from departments far and wide to create what will be a show-stopping show,” said Amine Hechehouche, Performing Arts Company business manager. “It’s a heart-warming, great country-folksy show.”
The production is directed by senior Jonas Barranca, a theatre major from Brooklyn, with musical direction by senior Paul Marszalkowski, a music major from Williamsville.
Cast members include: senior Raphael Santos from Niagara Falls (Theatre), freshman Maura Nolan of Tonawanda (Theatre), senior Kimberly Abrams of Peekskill (Theatre), junior Kathleen Fiori of Pittsford (Theatre), and junior Mary Ryan of Silver Spring, Md. (Theatre).
The production crew consists of: senior Colin Chauche of Newton, Mass. (Theatre), junior Marcus Berdeguez, of the Bronx (Theatre), junior Nicole Lax of North Syracuse (Theatre), senior Amine Hechehouche of Albany (History, Political Science), junior Hilda Meyer of Fredonia (Theatre), and junior Bethany Sortman of Greene (Theatre).
The music and book of “Spitfire Grill” are by James Valcq, the lyrics and book by Fred Alley, and are based on the film directed by Lee David Zlotoff. The musical’s Off-Broadway production, performed at the Playwrights Horizons Theater in New York City, was nominated for both an Outer Critics Circle Award and Drama League Award.
Since its Off-Broadway debut in 2001, “The Spitfire Grill,” which is said to have a brighter ending than the film, has been produced over 350 times around the world.
