TOWAMENCIN- On Thursday, April 29th, North Penn High School Theatre presented its first performance of its spring show, Once Upon A Mattress, featuring the talents of over one hundred actors, crew, and orchestra members.

“The show is based on Hans Christian Andersen’s play, the Princess and the Pea,” explained director Mrs. Andrea Roney,  “but with a modern twist. It’s kind of like the original muppet show, where it’s like a story for kids, but there are all these humor for adults that’s on a different level, so the whole family can enjoy it. It has love story, and a little bit of a different love story with a twist in it, and it’s a lot of fun and the company is having a lot of fun with it. They really embraced it and that makes the audience have a good time too.”

“I feel very overwhelmed,” senior Elizabeth Jebran, who plays Queen Aggravain, said after the initial performance. “I am so pleased [with] how it turned out!”

The company has worked through a grueling four-months period, rehearsing after school almost every day, sometimes until late at night. The actors not only mastered their art on stage, but also diligently worked to keep their grades up and stay out of trouble.

“After every show,” reminisced senior Omkar Katta, who plays the Minstrel. “I get the feeling that all of our hard work is going to be over in five short shows. We do it all for five days from the gold card assembly to the Sunday matinee, so everything I’m feeling right now is going back to the four month of work we put in and I’m so happy.”

“I’m so blessed that I can work with these wonderful students,” praised Roney. “Many of them I get to work with them all three years here and I get to watch them grow and mature on stage and as human beings and find their voices in the world. It’s just a blessing.”

One of many great things about the North Penn theater is its ability to make its own music. The pit band consisting of North Penn students were assembled to assist the show, providing the tunes for the actors and the audience.

“The pit band sounded fantastic,” praised show musical director Mr. Matthew Klenk. “They are great group of musicians. There were some really difficult passages and keys between the songs and they pushed through and nailed it.”

Along with the difficult task of learning the pieces, the pit band and the singers had the privilege of adapting to a complete different era of music.

“They wrote differently in 1960s,” explained Klenk. “In vocal standpoint, this show was written specifically for Carol Burnett, and some other actors and actress at that time. Trying to adapt the songs for our leads in particular is a challenge. For the orchestra, there are some really difficult keys, and they are really exposed. It’s not like a full orchestra or band where they have backups on their part. Everyone is kind of on their own and they are handling it very well.”

While the performers take the spotlight, there are many backstage components that keeps the show going.

“The biggest challenge (for the stage crew) is definitely keeping time with what’s going on on the stage,” explained Suzanne Angermeier, production stage manager for the show. “We have to cue the lights, move the props, put on the right sound track, and all these things right on time to make the show look more natural.”

Along with the incredible set and lights, the show is also full of quirky, funny soundtracks that are sure to make you laugh.

Another integral part of backstage is costume crew, which makes every single piece of clothing that the actors wear on stage. However, they had their own problems, as they started the year with many inexperienced rookies.

“In beginning of the year, we had 16 girls who did not know how to sew,” remembered Mrs. Marianne Brady, head of the costume crew, “so it was quite difficult in the beginning to teach all these girls how to measure, how to sew, and other things for the show.”

Thankfully, those struggles were behind them as the costumes for the actors turned about brilliantly. From jester’s clown suit to king’s crown to the queen’s dress, each piece captured the essence of the characters.

“I think they’ve turned out very well,” exclaimed Brady. “We got it done with the crew and all the kids look fantastic. I’m so proud of the work both the costume crew and the actors did.”

Throughout the whole play, the crowd could feel the power, the emotion, the effort from the stage.

“Theater is a place where you go to have shared experiences as a human being,” explained Roney. “We go on these journey on what life is all about and who are we and how we fit into this universe and we go to the theater to see stories of people from different times and places who try to take same journey with different tone and different perspective and different story. All of these are, to me, a place where we share our stories. Theater is the most collaborative art form there is… It takes all kind of disciplines imagine to make the show. It combines everything and it truly is a collaborate art form.”

Once Upon A Mattress is set to take the stage for three more performances: Friday and Saturday night at 7:30 and a matinee at 2:00 on Sunday. Tickets are $5 for students and $10 for adults and are still available at the door for all performances.