TFHS Drama Department pulls off "Once Upon a Mattress"

The Thompson Falls High School Drama Department’s production of “Once Upon a Mattress” went up for a three day run at the Rex Theatre downtown on Thursday. The musical comedy is an adaptation of the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale, The Princess and the Pea. Directed by Jennifer Haas, Rebecca Haag and Pam Peters, the ambitious effort was rewarded with a packed house during the performance on Friday.

The musical features the efforts of Prince Dauntless the Drab played by Lucas Gruwell to find a suitable princess to marry that will stand the scrutiny of his overbearing mother, Queen Aggravain played by Shasta Wilson. Set in a mythical medieval kingdom, the prince’s wish to marry is seemingly granted when the uncouth and unrefined Princess Winnifred portrayed by Nicole Ribeiro answers the call put out across the land by the loyal knight Sir Harry played by Dustyn Moore. The Queen makes the selection process as difficult as possible for the rough around the edges Princess Winnifred who prefers her nickname “Fred” much to the dismay of her majesty.

Despite the best efforts of the Queen, Fred passes the test when she is unable to sleep on the stack of mattresses seemingly due to a pea that indicates she is “sensitive” enough to marry a prince. It is revealed at the end of the production that the test was rigged to ensure success by the elements of comedic relief throughout: the mute King Sextimus played by Bryce Shear, the minstrel and the jester portrayed by Aicia Curran. In traditional fairy tale fashion, all live happily ever after.

Narrated by the minstrel played by Dylan Francesconi, the play featured numerous musical numbers artfully sung by many members of the cast. Highlighted by a diverse and talented group of actors, the musical elicited scores of laughs from the approving crowd.

Accompanied by Haag on piano, all three co-directors gave their actors a pre-production pep talk urging them to learn from a few mistakes of the previous nights’ performance. Rehearsals for the production began in January and the actors have spent approximately an hour and a half, four days a week preparing for the daunting task of pulling off a musical.

According to Haag, “Every time you perform something like this it’s a little different. We have a lot of talent for this production and they’re just fun kids. I’m very proud of the work they have put into this”.

The final performance of “Once Upon a Mattress” by the Thompson Falls High School Drama Department was Sat. March 9. There was no word on the next scheduled production.