L’Observateur / March 13, 1999

LULING – The River Region Drama Guild is announcing auditions for its summer production of “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 one in thekingdom 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 the moat of the castle to get into the “Who Will Marry the Prince?” competition. How shemanages 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, Queen Aggravain, Prince Dauntless, Sir Harry, Lady Larken, Princess Winnifred and the Wizard and the Minstrel. Other cast characters are Sir Studley, Sir Luce, First Knight, Second Knight, Third Knight, Lady Rowena, Lady Merrill, Lady Lucille, a Kitchen Wench, Emily, and Lady Mabelle. There are other parts for ladies-in-waiting, knights,soldiers, servants and musicians, and there are an additional 10-20 parts for teen-agers and adults to play the court.

Auditions will be held at the Destrehan High Auditorium, beginning at 6:30 p.m.on March 15, with call backs on March 16 and 17. Performances will be theweekends of June 11-13 and 18-20 at Destrehan Auditorium.

A mandatory rehearsal will be held at the Drama Guild’s rehearsal hall in Luling on March 27.

The River Region Drama Guild has announced that Rosalie Abadie will direct this year’s show. Abadie is no stranger to community theatre, having directedproductions in the Lafayette area. Abadie earned a bachelor of arts degree inchoreographic design from the University of Southwestern Louisiana, where she also served as an instructor in the dance department. She also owned and taughtin her own dance and art studio in the Lafayette area.

Abadie comes to the guild from St. Mary’s Dominican High School in New Orleans,where she is an art teacher in the Fine Arts department teaching art. She is alsomoderator 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” and “The Wizard of Oz.”She is currently directing “Oklahoma!,” which will be held in April at Dominican High School.

Brenda Castillo returns 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” and “The Wizard of Oz” and is currently the musical director for Dominican’s production of “Oklahoma.” Castillo has been apercussionist for most of the theatres in the New Orleans area.

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 and Humanities Council and St. Charles United Way.For audition information call Ms. Larkey at 468-7898. For ticket informationcall 764-1969.

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