Last night the cast of THE SPITFIRE GRILL had the honor to meet with C. Mark Ratay who grew up in Elm Grove and studied under Alan Furlan. He served as a member of the management team of Sacred Heart League and their production company, Gregory Productions, Inc., the nonprofit organization that conceived of and produced THE SPITFIRE GRILL movie in 1996.
THE SPITFIRE GRILL film was sold to Castlerock Entertainment and it won the audience award at the 1996 Sundance Film Festival. The profits generated by the film were used to construct a Catholic grade school in Southaven, Mississippi, which serves approximately 300 students to this day.
In the course of his work with Gregory Productions, C. Mark had a close working relationship with Lee David Zlotoff (film writer/director), James Horner (composer of the film score), and Ellen Burstyn, Marcia Gay Harden, and Allison Elliott, the three leading ladies of the film.
After Gregory Productions sold the rights to the film, James Valcq and Fred Alley acquired the book/musical rights to Spitfire from Castlerock. They adapted the story to the stage and the musical has been produced across the country.
Thank you, C. Mark Ratay for returning to Sunset and sharing your story with the cast and production team of our production. THE SPITFIRE GRILL at Sunset will open our 2022-23 Season and run September 8-25, 2022.
