Melissa Joan Hart, who plays the title role on Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, was standing beneath a set of hot TV lights in the Bacchante Room of the Biltmore in downtown Providence yesterday, patiently reading lines off a TelePrompTer.
"You're watching Fighting for Our Future, part of our Lifetime commitment to stop breast cancer for life," Hart said.
Occasionally, a makeup person would step forward and fiddle with Hart's blond hair. Sometimes Hart would pause for a swig of bottled water. Then it would be back to business: "I'm Melissa Joan Hart, and you're watching Lifetime, television for women."
Hart was lending a little star power to Fighting for Our Future, a documentary designed to educate younger women about breast cancer. Scheduled to air on Lifetime on October, it's being produced by Principle Pictures of Plymouth, Mass. "We knew we wanted a younger woman with a wholesome reputation, someone who would believe in the project, and we thought of her," said Beth Murphy, producer and director of the show. Hart happened to be in Providence this week for a small part in a movie being made here, Jesus, Mary & Joey.
Hart, who lives in California, said she took the part in the movie because her roommate, Angelo Spizzirri, is close friends with Vincent Pagano, the movie's star and co-producer. Hart is playing Pagano's ex-girlfriend. Murphy said Principle Pictures was prepared to go to Los Angeles to shoot Hart's parts in Fighting for Our Future. Once they discovered that Hart was going to be in Providence, practically their backyard, they arranged to do it here.
As it turned out, Hart had scenes in Jesus, Mary & Joey Sunday and today, but had the days in between off. (Besides her work on the cancer documentary, Hart has eaten on Federal Hill and shopped at Providence Place.) Hart said she feels a certain responsibility to undertake some charity and educational work because of her high-profile position. As the oldest of seven sisters -- there is also one brother in the family -- she's particularly interested in women's health issues. "I have lots of little sisters, and I feel very responsible for them," Hart said.
Fighting for Our Future follows several young women through the ordeal of breast cancer. Murphy said younger breast cancer patients often face a particularly difficult set of issues -- misdiagnosis, fears about dating and sexuality, concerns over whether they can have children. Hart's job yesterday was to narrate the show's opening and closing, and to introduce the individual segments. Murphy also has her read some promos for the program, its companion book, and the Web site.
For the show opening, the petite Hart, wearing jeans and an off-the-shoulder black top, stood at a spot marked off by tape on the floor of the Bacchante Room, then walked a few feet toward the camera, stopping at another spot marked off by tape. Patiently, she read her lines over and over until Murphy was satisfied, then moved on to her next part.
Once, when she fluffed a line, she muttered "Damnit!" but that was about as tempermental as she got. A few takes were ruined by what sounded like moving furniture in the rooms immediately above, other times by people talking in the hallways.
Hart didn't seem flustered. "Nah, this is easy," she said. "You've got the TelePrompTer in front of you; you don't have to remember anything. It's easy." Of course, Hart has been in front of cameras since she was 4, when she made her first national TV commercial.
She became a TV presence playing the title role in Nickelodeon's Clarissa Explains It All, which aired from 1991 to 1993, then starred in Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, which began on ABC and now airs on The WB. It will be on this fall at 8:30 p.m. Fridays.
Produced by Hartbreak Films, a production company established by Melissa and her mother Paula, Sabrina has spun off books, CD-ROMS, and an animated series. At 26, Hart would seem to be getting a little mature to play teenagers. But time is an elastic property on TV. Hart said she was supposed to age from 14 to 18 on Clarissa, then became 16 again when she started Sabrina, where she's been 19 for the last three years. On the show, she has graduated into the workplace, working for a hip, teen-oriented magazine.
Hart said this will give the show a chance to bring on musicians for guest roles -- Ashanti is planned for next season's debut.
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