Hackmatack Playhouse Announces Return to the Stage With THE SPITFIRE GRILL

The show at Hackmatack Playhouse this summer is funny, sentimental and remarkably relevant for the summer of 2021.

"The Spitfire Grill," opening Aug. 6 at the Berwick theater, is about a community that is coming together and rebuilding from a fresh start, even featuring a song called "Come Alive Again."

"The whole idea of having had such dramatic events that have changed people's lives really resonates this summer," said Artistic Director Danielle Howard

"The Spitfire Grill" tells the story of an elderly woman, Hannah, who owns a ramshackle diner she wants to sell. A young woman named Percy, who was recently released from prison arrives in town and is hired as a waitress. Instead of selling the grill, Percy suggests raffling it off for $100 and the best essay about why they should own the diner.

"The Spitfire Grill" actually started the real-life craze several decades ago of people raffling off inns and restaurants, according to Hackmatack owner Michael Guptill. In fact, Guptill has been waiting to do this show for more than a decade and finally got it on the schedule last year. Then, just when he thought they would present this "lovely, lovely show... this very sweet musical", he once again had to delay the show due to Covid.

"Spitfire Grill is an absolute gem of a show, a lovely intimate character-driven musical," according to Howard. "It is a wonderful story about forgiveness and second chances with great humor tucked in.

The 2001 Off-Broadway Musical by James Valcq and Fred Alley was based on a 1996 film by Lee David Zlotoff. Although the show was set in Wisconsin, the original movie was in Maine and Hackmatack is bringing it back to Maine.

Hannah is played by Mary Lou Bagley of South Berwick and Percy is played by Mai Hartwich, a UNH graduate based in Chicago. The actors who are playing two of the leads bring special qualities that make their roles come alive.

Mary Lou was born to play Hannah," said Howard. "She is a strong Maine woman and can bring out the prickliness, feistiness and strength of Hannah while also letting you into her heart so you get to understand why she is the way she is."

As for Hartwich, who recently appeared in "All Shook Up" in Newburyport, "Not only is she an incredibly expressive and amazing singer, she also understands the armor Percy uses to protect herself," Howard said. "She gets Percy's hard edge, but she also gets her vulnerability. It's her journey we follow from the beginning to the end so she has to be a person you can empathize with."

Other roles are played by Jacob and Emily Zentis of Nashua; Dustin Teuber of Salem, NH; Christopher Savage of Exeter and Nicole Sprague of Milford, NH, a recent UNH graduate. John Berst, Howard's husband and long-time professional collaborator, is the show's musical director."

"Every person in the cast has worked with at least one other person in the immediate company so we already have these strong connections built in, which is a great luxury to start," Howard said. "That goes a long way during an intense summer stock rehearsal schedule."
During the year, Guptill and Howard continually checked in to see what Covid guidelines were evolving. In May when the Maine guidelines changed to allow performers to be inside unmasked, they decided the show would go on.
Howard noted that big barn doors at the back of the theatre can be open during performances, allowing lots of fresh air to come in through the back of the barn." All of the cast and crew members are fully vaccinated.

The Spitfire Grill will run Aug. 6 to 28 with shows Wednesday through Saturdays at 8 pm and a matinee at 2 pm on Thursdays. For more information or tickets call 207.698.1807 or go to www.hackmatack.org.

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