L’Observateur / June 2, 1999

LULING – The River Region Drama Guild has announced the cast for its summer production “Once Upon A Mattress.” If you thought you knew the folk tale “ThePrincess and the Pea,” you may be in for a walloping surprise.

“Once Upon A Mattress” carries on a wave of wonderful songs, by turns hilarious and raucous, romantic and melodic. The plot is simple enough. No onein the kingdom can marry until Prince Dauntless first marries, but his mother Queen Aggravain cooks up scheme after scheme to make sure he doesn’t wed anyone. Finally, a princess from the swampland far away literally swims themoat of the castle to get into the “Who Will Marry the Prince?” competition.

How she manages to win the heart of the prince, virtually everyone else in the castle and eventually the prince’s hand in marriage make for a jolly tale.

The lead characters are King Sextimus the Silent, played by Ron Oleksik; Queen Aggravain played by Jennifer Szczesny; Prince Dauntless played by Samuel Ebeyer; and Sir Harry played by Dreux Blalock. Melissa Stabile will play LadyLarken, and Mary Beth Haskins will play Princess Winnifred. The Wizard will beplayed by Mike Brooks, the Minstrel by Adam Peyton and the Jester by Chris Melohn.

Rounding out the cast as Knights and Ladies in Waiting are Joyce Arnold, Mindi Batson, Darby Berthelot, Bryan Bertucci, Annie Carr, Steve Connell, Reid Day, Sharyn Endres, Shannon Hinton, Leah Langan, LaVina Larkey, Nichole Larkey, Gordon Lousteau, Gary Martin, Denise Naquin, Cathlyn Oubre, Ashley Payne, Debbie Payne, Amanda Peyton, Katie Pizzolato, Lindsey Price, Carol Romaguera, Amy Satterlee, Jessica Thomas and Georgette Verdin.

Rosalie Abadie will direct this year’s show. Abadie is no stranger to communitytheatre, having directed productions in the Lafayette area. She earned abachelor of arts in choreographic design from the University of Southwestern Louisiana, where she also served as an instructor in the dance department. Shealso owned and taught in her own dance and art studio in the Lafayette area.

Abadie comes here from St. Mary’s Dominican High School in New Orleans,where she is a member of the Fine Arts Department teaching art. She is alsothe moderator of the Destrehan High School drama club and is credited with reviving the drama and the arts over the last four years at Dominican.

For Dominican, Abadie has written and created various dramatic productions and has directed “The Butler Did It Singing,” “Krazy Kamp,” “The Wizard of Oz” and “Oklahoma!” Brenda Castillo is returning as musical director. Castillo is an experiencedmusician who heads the fine arts department and is the musical director at St.

Mary’s Dominican High School. She has been involved in “The Butler Did ItSinging,” “Krazy Kamp,” “The Wizard of Oz” and “Oklahoma!” She has also been a percussionist for most of the theatres in the New Orleans area.

Performances are held at Destrehan High School Auditorium on June 11, 12, 18, and 19 at 7:30 p.m. and June 13 and 20 at 2 p.m.This program is supported in part by funds from the Louisiana State Arts Council and the Louisiana Division of the Arts as administered by the Houma- Terrebonne Arts & Humanities Council and St. Charles United Way.For ticket information call 764-1969.

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