By Priscilla Greear

Staff Writer

ATLANTA---Above a computer screen that reads "Love, Rosemary," actor and director Rosemary Newcott has a framed playbill of the children's play she directed, "A Woman Called Truth." The production's title reflects Newcott's contributions to the Atlanta stage.

The process of acting and directing for her is both a journey towards self and others as she opens for the audience windows to her soul, to great literature and to God.

"Every single production or character that I play is a little journey towards a clearer understanding of myself and others. It really involves both. We keep growing. I hopefully will continue to grow rather than get into some sort of rut. I don't want to repeat myself. I want to keep having experiences for others to learn from," said Newcott, the Alliance Children’s Theatre director.

Newcott's giving spirit flows from her reservoir of faith. A 20-year parishioner at Sacred Heart Church, Atlanta, she said that basic Gospel values, like love of neighbor, are what have kept her creating through her 19-year career in Atlanta.

"I think all of these (Gospel values) have really contributed to leading me to stay in this profession. If you can continue to keep these important aspects of life in your heart then you'll continue to try to communicate these values to your audiences. I do think my spiritual life is directly connected to my professional life."

And what an abundant, artistic life she leads. Newcott, who had previously directed five children's plays at the theatre, is in a new Alliance position created last fall through a gift from theatre patron Sallie G. Tomlinson. Her current production is Roald Dahl's "James and the Giant Peach," the story of one boy's adventure in an enormous peach, crossing the Atlantic to arrive in New York. Following his parents' deaths, he befriends a centipede, spider and other insects that give him fruit for the journey. Public performances will be held Feb. 20 and April 1. Some 100,000 are expected to see this season's children's shows.

Suggesting a child's faith with a warm smile every minute, Newcott said she has enjoyed production challenges such as helping the actors who play insects to portray them through acting exercises where they get in a "mound position" with eyes closed. Then they try to imagine how the bugs would breathe and move.

"You visualize and impersonate as much as possible the physical characteristics of the insect and then you layer on human qualities," Newcott explained. "Each of the actors has really thought how they could turn into human insects. It's a lot of fun."

Newcott said that, as the boy and bugs team up to help each other realize their potential, the theme is about "appreciating your gifts and the gifts of others as well" which is relevant to all ages. She tries to pick plays that are universal.

"It's a challenge because you want to get plays that are important to young people, that entertain, that contain ideas. The mission of the Alliance Theatre is to build bridges between people and help people to understand each other ... so with the children's theatre we take that mission statement."

The high-school certified drama teacher with a master's from Northwestern, who taught 10 years with Georgia's Governor's Honors program, hopes her passion is contagious.

"I do want to create life-long theatre-goers. I want them to be able to experience the joy that theatre can bring. It's a very special relationship--that love relationship between a performer and an audience member," she continued. "This is an opportunity for them (actors) to learn in a very entertaining environment--to learn the lessons that great literature teaches."

Exercising every muscle of her dramatic spirit, Newcott, through the years, has been equally at home at center stage and in the eye of the camera. In constant demand, she's done Shakespeare, appeared in "The Gingerbread Man" with Robert Duvall and stretched herself into roles ranging from a lizard in the now-defunct Rocket Productions' "Seascape" to a blind girl in “Voice of the Prairie." Most recently she directed "A Christmas Carol" for the Civic Light Opera in Pittsburgh and at the Alliance she played in "The Grapes of Wrath."

While she was drawn to acting out of shyness that she outgrew, she said it remains a risky proposition.

"That's one of the greatest things about working in theatre. You really do put yourself in places that are risky. You are forced, at least, to look at things in a different light. I love that it just elicits different kinds of responses. It entertains and makes you think and it's an important aspect of our lives," she said. "You're putting yourself out there either on the stage or in front of the camera and it's a very vulnerable place. Even if you are taking on characters other than yourself you're still there."

Sharing her product-loving persona, Newcott's commercial credits include Folger's, AT & T and, most recently, Publix, where she played a writer who hits the road to find the South's kookiest cooks. She recalled a Nintendo commercial, where she fended off Darth Vader before her son zapped him.

"It was like filming a little 'Star Wars,'" she recalled.

Her varying projects are like cherished children that feed off each other.

"They're your babies. It feels like--which children do you prefer when they're all important to a mother?"

Twenty-two-year actor Chris Kayser, a parishioner at St. Thomas More Church, Decatur, who most recently acted with Newcott in "The Grapes of Wrath" and has known her 18 years, gives her career a standing ovation. He recalled years ago at the Academy Theatre her "awe-inspiring" performance as Mrs. Dilber in "A Christmas Carol" where she truly transformed herself into the character.

"It was just by changing her face, her voice. It just seemed like her mindset was different. It took you completely in. It was just her transforming herself in a way that you believed she was a different person in a very, very surprising way," he said. Evidence of that transformation appears "in every one of her performances in that she really inhabits the different characters--that she always seems to understand their way of thinking without really playing at it--just being in a way that is really exciting."

Kayser called Newcott a "theatre missionary."

"It was inspiring to see her, to work with her. She's one of the people who's just kept the brow high in terms of quality of work, quality of her efforts, quality of preparation. What a good person she is. I want to be like that. I want to be like her in that sense," he said. "She's a really inspiring teacher ... She's just been sort of a theatre missionary. That, in itself, speaks to her lack of selfishness. She wants to give as well as hear the applause."

Artistic director Kenny Leon said Newcott is a wonderful addition to the staff.

"She does not talk down to kids. In her work she challenges them in creative ways, because young people's lives are important to her," he said. "She is full of energy and her shows are visually exciting. She always has a balance, makes smart choices and allows you to laugh. She also explores things in an intellectual way on stage, which is another way that she respects kids and doesn't talk down to them. She's a smart director."

Chris Moses, who plays James in Newcott's production, is one actor who's gladly received her direction.

"She's easily one of the most gifted people I've worked with, just patient and engaging. She gives you a lot of freedom to make your own choices and has a lot of faith in everybody she casts and seeing that has in turn given me a lot of faith," he said.

He noted that in the production she has focused on actors not talking down to a younger audience and keeping the relationships honest and real which gives the show a lot of integrity.

Newcott herself appears very honest when she talks about acting.

"I'd go to L.A. -- if I was going to want a lot of attention and exposure, I'd go elsewhere. I just like to act," she added. "Atlanta has been my home for that. I've found my place here."

She shared some advice she gives students.

"If you're doing it for the congratulations, I think you are really leaving yourself open for disappointment. You're in a position to be judged. Not everybody's going to love you."

She compared church to theatre, as both involve repetition and learning.

"When I got married, the priest was telling me, 'this is for real, this is not a play.' There is a big difference," said Newcott, who is married to Tom Marquardt, who writes childrn’s novels and waits tables at Azio downtown.

"Everyone at Sacred Heart is the best. I love that it's downtown. I especially have found Father (Stephen) Churchwell a wonderful person to talk to," she said and that she hopes to help arrange for Sacred Heart and other Catholic youth groups to attend free dress-rehearsals of children's shows.

Prayer for her, like breathing, is necessary for living. The Lord is her director as she prays daily for guidance to make the right choices for productions, to treat others fairly and to have an open-mind.

In choosing, she does seem to have an open mind. Having directed "And Now Miguel," she is interested, among other things, in finding material that represents Atlanta's growing Hispanic community.

"I want to make sure that we represent that community ... We're looking to find work that reflects their lives as well. That's a challenge. We have some ideas brewing."

For Alliance ticket information call (404) 733-5000.