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Highland Community College Fine Arts Department Presents The Spitfire Grill Opening March 19
published February 20, 2020Highland Community College Fine Arts Department opens the spring semester with the showing of the musical, The Spitfire Grill premiering Thursday, March 19 in the Culbertson Theatre.
The Spitfire Grill is an American musical with music and book by James Valcq and lyrics and book by Fred Alley. The performance is based on the 1996 film of the same name by Lee Davis Zlotoff. The film won the Richard Rodgers Production Award, administered by The American Academy of Arts and Letters. The musical depicts the journey of a young woman just released from prison who decides to start her life anew in a rural Wisconsin town. She participates in a journey within the town itself toward its own tenuous reawakening.
Percy Talbot has just been released from a five-year prison sentence for manslaughter. She is trying to find a place for a fresh start and based on a page from an old travel book, she travels to the small town of Gilead, Wisconsin. The local sheriff, Joe Sutter, who is also Talbots's parole officer, finds her a job at Hannah's Spitfire Grill. The grill is for sale but with no interested buyers, Hannah decides to raffle it off. Entry fees are one hundred dollars and the best essay on why you want the grill wins. Soon, the mail is arriving by the wheelbarrow. The musical triumph is an inspiring celebration of fresh starts and the power of what one person can do.
The show is directed by Sam Smith & Shayna Leahy and the cast includes HCC students Rowan Crespo of Tecumseh, KS; Gabi Simmons of Topeka, KS; Braden Shryock of Tonganoxie, KS; Cody Neibling of Hiawatha, KS; Clarissa Young of Mound City, MO; Paige Collins of Osawatomie, KS; Beth Streit of Seneca, KS; and Kent Robb of Westmoreland, KS; Backstage and technical assistance is provided by Sara Armstrong of Blue Springs, MO; Lydia Bedigrew of Effingham, McKenzie Handley and Tanner Holte of Mayetta, KS; Gabrielle Barnes of St. Louis, MO; Jazmine Christensen of Omaha, NE; Michael DeWare of Atchison, KS; Shea Duncan of Sabetha, KS; Saryah Harris of Kansas City, MO; Kaylee Brown of Horton, KS; and Candice Robinson of Kingston, Jamaica
The Spitfire Grill plays at HCC’s Culbertson Auditorium Theatre, on the HCC campus. Evening performances are March 19 and March 20 at 7:30 p.m. with a matinee performance on March 21 at 2 p.m. As always, there is no charge for admission. Parental guidance is recommended, as The Spitfire Grill contains some adult situations. For additional information, please call 785-442-6089, or email Sam Smith at smsmith@highlandcc.edu
