Once Upon A Mattress

Pirate Players perform the Spring Musical

by Marissa Horn, Copy Editor

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Once again the Pirate Players have delivered a stunning performance as they produced the well-known musical “Once Upon a Mattress.” This musical offered several performances as they began on March 9 and the final performance took place on March 11. This was a huge step up compared to other productions throughout the past few years.

“We haven’t done that many shows in a while, so that was fun,” Actress Ana McAlister said.

The musical itself is based on the nostalgic fairy tale “The Princess and the Pea.” The storyline follows Princess Winnifred as she aims to capture the heart of Prince Dauntless who is ordered by his mother, Queen Aggravain, to find a suitable princess to marry. This musical presents the powerful message to the audience that being true to yourself is better than being what others want you to be. 

Everyone involved in the musical had to be fully committed to rehearsals and the overall building of the set as the entire process takes a large chunk of time. The set itself was created all by the hands of the cast and crew and took a few months to design.

“We started building in the middle of January and we were not done until the Tuesday of tech week,” Director Courtney Gibson said. “It took about two months to complete.”

“Rehearsals took a long time and we expected the set build to take a little bit less time,” Actor Christian Gustafson said.

There are several reasons why students want to be involved with the school’s productions. Some students plan to have a future in performing arts, while others want to gain more high school connections and good experiences. 

“I got to know a lot of people and their different passions while I was working with them in the musical,” Actress Aija Cohen Davis said. 

“I got to know more people and I feel like meeting people is one of the main reasons why I like doing this (performing),” Gustasfson said. 

 With everyone playing their part and lending a hand, the musical turned out to be a success.

“It (the musical) went fantastically, I couldn’t have asked for better,” Gibson said.

The next play and musical have been announced to be produced by the Pirate Players in 2023-2024. The play will be “The Play That Goes Wrong” and the musical will be “Guys and Dolls”.