Cooper High School - Talons Yearbook (New Hope, MN)

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a Sir Harry, Chris Harris, expresses his love for Lady Larkin, Laura Weinzetl, before he leaves to find c1 true princess. Sir Harry and Lady Larkin cannot be married until Prince Dauntless is wed. -. -. The kingdom awaits in anticipation to see if Princess MZ, Mollie Stickney, will pass the Queen's final question asked by the Wizard, Adam Rautio. -. -+ 1 After swimming the moat, Princess Win- nifred, Shannon Smith, asks, Who's the lucky man? ONCE UPON A MATTRESS CAST: Seated in From: L. Christensen, J. Mundale, E. Rautio, L. Weinzetl, I. Hunt, T. Hesse, M. McGrath, C. Fraser, 2. Scherschligt, I. Choih, L. Augustinack. Second How: I. Gustafson, S. Smith, I. Scherschligt, A. Hoekstra, D. Hudrlik, A. VanDusen, S. Hawes, M. Subialka. Third Row: Director J. Rusk, O. Ansari, A. Gibson, S. Salhus, S. Brown, K. Tessman. Fourth Row: Director F . Plut, E. Skogrcmd. D. Albus, M. Stickney,K. Kloos, S. Mueller, H. Gossard, B. Ober, C. Rube, C. Harris, A. Rautio. T. Iohnson. 26 - Musical

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MATTRESS Kingdom lives happily ever after in medieval musical 11 November 23, the day after the full play ended, the first informational meeting for the musmal began. Frank Plut and Iulia Rask combined to co-direct Once Upon A Mattress a musical adapta- tion of The Princess and the Pea. The Minstrel, Ted Hesse, opens the show With a song which explained that this mythical kingdom in 1428 is ruled over by a talkative, hated queen, played by Katy Tessman, and a mute king, characterized by Scott Brown. The King expressed himself by using pantomime and charades. The queen had decreed that no one shall wed until Prince Dauntless, portrayed by Eric Rautio, is married. Although many princesses have had auditions to mar- ry Dauntless, the queen consistently invents impossible tests to discourage them. The plot is defined, and the story begins. Lady Larken, Laura Weinzetl, is pregnant. Sir Harry, played by Chris Harris, Larkens' lover, leaves the king- dom in order to find a princess for Dauntless to marry. Thus the entire village Will be able to wed. He returns . with Winnifred the Woebegone, Shan- non Smith, Whose home lies in the swamps. She eventually passes the queen's test and is able to marry Dauntless, but not without help from the Minstrel and the Iester, portrayed by Ion Hunt. I Confidently Princess Winnifred, Shannon Smith, displays her strength and endurance to the kingdom. While succeeding in lifting the weight, the kingdom shouts out her name, F-R-E-D in awe. H While thinking of a test to determine Princess Winnifred's royalty, the Queen, Katy Tessman. rebukes the Wizard, Adam Rautio's, suggestion. She decided to test her for sensitivity, placing a pea under twenty soft downy mattresses. H H Due to Prince Dauntless' inability to comprehend the birds and the bees, the King, Scott Brown, pantomimes a stork. This action took place in the song Man to Man Talk. Eric Rautio played the role of the prince. Musical e 25

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FRED Slow sales for show 5 the production dates for Once Upon A Mattress neared, a typical rehearsal began with stretches for the dancers and vocal warm-ups led by the vocal director, Paula Holmberg. Across the hall, the orchestra, under the direction of Roger Thompson, began tuning up for the whole show. Earlier, once the show was cast, re- hearsals were held every day after school, but when performance time drew closer, the director, Iulie Rask and Frank Plut intensified the rehears- als. The cast rehearsed weekends and on those days when school wasn't in session, all day. While the actors and actresses ree hearsed, Stan Hahn, technical direc- tor, and his crew built the set designed by Jeff Phillips. The set consisted of elevations and a series of arches with the main colors being pink and crushed robin's egg blue to help create a fairytale atmosphere. The show opened to a full house of senior citizens at the special matinee performance. However, the cast wor- ried as advance ticket sales for the evening performances seemed slower than past years. Many thought that the unfamiliar name and the pushed-up performance dates along with a lack of enough publicity contributed to a small audience opening night. As the word spread of the show's artistic suc- cess and its sheer enjoyment for au- diences, ticket sales picked up. The remaining performances brought in a good audience. Ion Hunt who played the Iester said, When we had a big- ger crowd, I was able to use the laugh- ter of the audience to encourage me to add more to my performance. Musical - 27