Wake Up Marconi Presents 'Spitfire Grill' at Sage Theater

WAKE UP MARCONI! is pleased to announce the production of THE SPITFIRE GRILL, directed by Robert Francis Perillo. THE SPITFIRE GRILL will play a limited engagement at Off-Broadway's Sage Theatre (Sage Theater, 711 7th Avenue between 47 and 48 Street, 2nd Floor). Performances begin Thursday, September 4 and continue Saturday, September 13. Opening Night is Saturday, September 6 (8 p.m.).

A feisty parolee follows her dreams, based on a page from an old travel book, to a small town in Wisconsin and finds a place for herself working at Hannah's Spitfire Grill. It is for sale but there are no takers for the only eatery in the depressed town, so newcomer Percy suggests to Hannah that she raffle it off. Entry fees are one hundred dollars and the best essay on why you want the grill wins. Soon, mail is arriving by the wheelbarrow full and things are definitely cookin' at the Spitfire Grill.

The production features scenic design by Dave Gonzalez, costume design by M'arion Talan, and lighting design by Karl Chmielewski. Audrey Marshall is the stage manager.

THE SPITFIRE GRILL plays the following schedule:

Thursday, September 4 at 8pm
Friday, September 5 at 8pm
Saturday, September 6 at 3pm & 8pm
Sunday, September 7 at 3pm
Wednesday, September 10 at 8pm
Thursday, September 11 at 8pm
Friday, September 12 at 8pm
Saturday, September 13 at 3pm & 8pm

Tickets are $18 (Student Tickets $15) and are now available online at www.theatermania.com or 866-811-4111. Tickets may also be purchased in-person at the Sage theatre, ½ hour prior to the show.

2 hours with a 10 minute intermission. For more information visit: http://www.marconitheatre.com

FRED ALLEY (Lyricist) was the co-founder and Artist in Residence at American Folklore Theatre (AFT) in Door County, Wisconsin, a populist theatre with a seasonal audience of 50,000. At AFT, Mr. Alley collaborated on over twenty original shows with director Jeffrey Herbst, composer James Kaplan, co-founder Doc Heide, designers Neen Rock and Dave Alley, and frequent guest artists Paul Sills and James Maronek. It was at AFT that Mr. Alley first collaborated with James Valcq on The Passage, a new musical. His second collaboration with Mr. Valcq, The Spitfire Grill, received its world premiere at New Jersey's George Street Playhouse before its Off-Broadway opening at Playwrights Horizons. Mr. Alley was also the librettist and lyricist of the musicals Guys on Ice, Lumberjacks in Love, and The Bachelors, all of which set box office records at Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, and are now winning new fans at regional theatres all across the country. Fred Alley died unexpectedly in May 2001.

ROBERT FRANCIS PERILLO (Director) is a Master Voice Teacher and has trained actors for over a quarter of a century. He has worked at Binghamton University, Marymount College, the National Shakespeare Conservatory, New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, and the Stella Adler Studio of Acting where he was head of the Voice Department. Mr. Perillo trains and coaches actors privately both for performance and auditions. In addition he has worked extensively with businessmen and women, writers, politicians, singers and clergymen. He has given seminars and workshops to choral groups, readers of scripture and to other teachers of voice and speech. Mr. Perillo is a stage director and actor and has directed and appeared in playwrights as varied as William Shakespeare, Noel Coward, John Patrick Shanley, George F. Walker, Charles Ludlam, Tom Stoppard and Oscar Wilde. Mr. Perillo is on the faculty of the Public Theater's Shakespeare Lab.

JAMES VALCQ (Composer) composed the score of the Off-Broadway musical The Spitfire Grill (Playwrights Horizons, 2001) which won the Richard Rodgers Production Award administered by the American Academy of Arts and Letters (Stephen Sondheim, chair; Ned Rorem, president) and received Best Musical nominations from the Outer Critics Circle and Drama League as well as two Drama Desk nominations (cast album: Triangle Road Records). The show, written with collaborator Fred Alley, has been produced over 250 times across the United States, in Germany, and most recently in South Korea. In 2008, The Spitfire Grill will have its UK premiere at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Also Off-Broadway, James was the composer/author of Zombies from The Beyond, which opened to critical acclaim in 1995 (cast album: Original Cast Records).

Other NYC credits include Fallout Follies at the York Theatre, Songs I Never Sang For My Father at the Village Theatre, and The Last Leaf, a collaboration with Tony-nominee Mary Bracken Phillips. Regionally, James has composed music for Love's Labours Lost at Idaho Shakespeare Festival and Great Lakes Theatre Festival, Twelfth Night at Door Shakespeare, Tomas and the Library Lady at Idaho Theatre for Youth, an adaptation of the classic children's book The Pancake King commissioned by Milwaukee's Next Act Theatre, and The Passage (another collaboration with Fred Alley) at American Folklore Theatre in Wisconsin.

Broadway credits as conductor and/or musician include Chicago, Flower Drum Song, Cabaret, Scarlet Pimpernel. Other conducting credits: Maurice Sendak's production of Really Rosie (national tour), Candide, Lady in the Dark, South Pacific (Skylight Opera Theatre), and She Loves Me (Indiana Rep). James holds an MFA from the Graduate Musical Theatre Program at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.

"WAKE UP MARCONI! Marconi, our namesake, sought to connect the people of the world across seemingly insurmountable distances, and we strive to do the same. In today's climate the distance is not merely physical, it is multi-faceted; people are separated by gender, by race, by language, by ideology, by fear. We seek to bridge that gap, bringing communities together and fostering cross-cultural communication.We wish to educate, and we believe that theatre is the best way to do so; holding up a mirror to society and showing everyone that we are not so different after all. Wake Up Marconi! aims to produce two professional shows per year. For each one, we intend to have an associated charity performance with a workshop targeting the affiliated marginalized population that the show addresses. We also intend to provide workshops to different communities fostering new works showcasing said communities. Through these actions, we hope to effect positive change and surmount the insurmountable." states press notes.