'Spitfire' actress felt kinship to character

Oct 12, 2008 (The Roanoke Times - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- GOOG | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- Actress Natalie Newman remembers seeing the 1996 movie "The Spitfire Grill" with her middle school pals.

She was floored. Her friends, not so much.

"By the end of the movie, I was sobbing," said Newman, the star of Mill Mountain Theatre's upcoming musical, which is based on the film. "I knew the character. I knew her. I knew who she was and where she came from."

Mill Mountain regulars will recognize the brown-haired, blue-eyed actress from last summer's Steven Sondheim musical, "Into the Woods." (She was Cinderella.)

Newman's other credits include a traveling version of the Broadway hit "Grease," for which she auditioned while still a student at Elon University in North Carolina. Newman has degrees from Elon in musical theater and dance.

For those who think the life of a traveling theater troupe is romantic -- well, it can be, just a little, Newman says. That's so long as you don't mind getting up at 4 a.m. and occasionally sleeping on the floor of a bus. It helps if you like to travel.

"We saw the best and the worst of hotels across America," said Newman, who learned, among other things, that "all malls are the same." But the wandering also had its moments, including "being able to wake up in the morning and say something like, 'Oh -- that's Mount Rainier.' "

Newman was performing in "Into the Woods" in June when she discovered Mill Mountain Theatre would stage "Spitfire" in the fall. She asked artistic director Patrick Benton if she could audition before leaving Roanoke. She did and got the part.

"She just kind of blew my doors off in 'Into the Woods,'" said Benton. "So I knew she could sing and act. She also had this vulnerability that sort of works for Percy in 'The Spitfire Grill.' We're just as delighted as can be that she's returning to the Mill Mountain stage."

Newman, who now lives in New York City, was born in Franklin, Va., and grew up in the South. Though she has purged her speech of all obvious Southern influences (she learned long ago she would never be taken seriously as an actress until she stopped saying "cain't"), they re-emerge when she's talking to old friends or family. Playing the Southern heroine of "The Spitfire Grill," Newman can let her accent flow through every line.

So, for those of us who have never seen the movie -- what is "Spitfire" all about?

"It's about a parolee -- that's me," said Newman, though she won't reveal her character's crime. (Yes, we could Google it, but why spoil the fun?)

The young ex-con, whose name is Percy, goes to the town of Gilead, Wis., to start a new life. Percy gets a job at a place called -- well, you know. And she helps lead small-town Gilead "into a journey of self-knowledge and renewal," according to the Mill Mountain Theatre Web site.

Newman sums it up this way:

"If you don't cry at least once when you see this show, you're the heartless Tin Man. Bring Kleenexes."

The Spitfire Grill runs Wednesday through Nov. 2. Tickets are $25 to $30. Call 342-5740. The theater will give away a dinner for two at Texas Tavern during every performance of "The Spitfire Grill."

Bamboo briefcases?

The new Taubman Museum of Art may be first and foremost an art museum -- but that's not all it is.

It is also, among other things, a movie theater, a restaurant and a gift shop. And it turns out the last is nothing like the sleepy little gift shop the museum operated back at Center in the Square.

The gift shop on the new museum's first floor will sell regional crafts, museum and exhibition-related merchandise and "unique and imaginative gifts from around the world," with an emphasis on Fair Trade-certified goods, according to a written description provided by the museum. The Fair Trade Federation is an association of businesses that follow fair trade principles, such as fair wages and healthy and safe working conditions for workers, and no exploitation of child labor.

Crafts will include pottery, ceramics, textiles, glass, jewelry, basketry, wood and metal. A highlight will be works by the popular Floyd County artisans who call themselves 16 Hands.

A boutique area will feature handmade shawls, scarves, jackets, purses and bags -- including a selection of handbags from Timmy Woods of Los Angeles, who created the Eiffel Tower purse in the "Sex and the City" movie, said the museum release. Jewelry priced from $19.95 to $800 will include works in silver, stone, paper, Bakelite and glass.

Men's gifts will include French watches, designer key chains and a "distinctive briefcase made of eco-friendly bamboo." Books will be available on modern and classic art. Youngsters will find children's art books, paint, pastel and origami kits, handmade stuffed animals from France and artsy puzzles and games.

Those on limited budgets can still buy postcard reproductions of art from the museum's collection, as well as posters, journals, address books, notecards, T-shirts, caps, mugs, holiday ornaments, golf balls, shot glasses, pencils and pens.

The store will be open the same hours as the museum, external affairs director Kimberly Templeton said.

Actors needed

Gamut, a Roanoke theater company, will hold auditions for its upcoming production of "Reckless" by Craig Lucas from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday at Jefferson Center. "Reckless" will be performed at Jefferson Center on Dec. 10, 11, 13, 18, 19 and 20. Actors are needed for a variety of roles in the madcap, absurd production. E-mail gamut@cox.net or call (540) 380-3168.

Concert postponed

Today's organ concert by Mitchell Crawford at Greene Memorial United Methodist Church has been postponed. It will take place on Nov. 23 instead. Call 344-6225 for more information.

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