WT Theatre to Open Season with Classic Musical ‘Once Upon a Mattress’

Copy by Chip Chandler, 806-651-2124, cchandler@wtamu.edu

CANYON, Texas — A goofy musical take on a classic fairy tale will open West Texas A&M University Theatre’s 2023-24 season.

“Once Upon a Mattress,” a Golden Age-era musical adaptation of “The Princess and the Pea,” will be staged at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 28 to 30 and Oct. 5 to 7 and 2:30 p.m. Oct. 8 in the Branding Iron Theatre in the Sybil B. Harrington Fine Arts Complex on WT’s campus.

Tickets are $16 for adults, $12 for seniors and students, and free for WT students, faculty and staff with a Buff Gold card.

“We had planned to do ‘Kiss Me, Kate’ during our 2020-21 season, but that was taken off the schedule because of Covid, so we haven’t done a Golden Age musical for a few years,” said director Callie Hisek, WT’s Royal R. Brantley Professor of Theatre Studies in the Department of Art, Theatre and Dance in the Sybil B. Harrington College of Fine Arts and Humanities. “We had a very dramatic season last year, so we wanted to find some lightness.”

“Once Upon a Mattress”—written by Jay Thompson, Dean Fuller and Marshall Baker, with music by Mary Rodgers and lyrics by Marshall Baker—fits the bill as precisely as a glass slipper on … oops, wrong fairy tale.

“Princess Winnifred is everything a princess is not,” said her portrayer, Jewel Schonhoff, a senior musical theatre major from Little Elm. “She swims a moat, she has a lot of frogs, she’s OK with getting muddy. She’s not a Disney princess.”

Her one true love, Prince Dauntless the Drab, is just like Prince Charming, only if his highness were stuck in a permanent state of arrested development.

“It’s so fun to play him,” said his portrayer, Ray Barber, a junior musical theatre major from Conroe. “The most entertaining part of rehearsals is figuring out how to physically and emotionally come off as a man-child.”

Dauntless’ domineering mother, Queen Aggravain (Peyton Hastings, a senior musical theatre major from Sundown), has ruled that no one in the kingdom may wed until she gets her hapless son married off. Enter Winnifred, popping up out of the moat, then forced to undergo a test to prove her royal bona fides — namely, the pea and a stack of mattresses.

“This show is just so much fun, and it gives us a chance to get WT Dance involved,” Hisek said. “Plus, we always make sure our students get the chance to perform in a variety of plays and musicals, and ‘Mattress’ is a great example of the kind of shows our theatre education students will teach one day.”

Cast members also include Logan Lawhon, a freshman musical theatre major from Midland, as the minstrel; Matt Thurman, a senior musical theatre major from Frisco, as the wizard; Caleb Martinez, a senior musical theatre major from Seagraves, as the jester; Victoria Reyes, a junior musical theatre major from Inez, as Lady Larken; Edgar Camarena, a senior theatre major from Amarillo, as Sir Harry; Hunter Russell, a freshman theatre major from Sundown, as King Sextimus the Silent; Oscar Hample, a senior musical theatre major from Wasilla, Alaska, as Sir Studley; Sanai Lowe, a senior musical theatre major from Dallas, as Lady Lucille; William Lindley, a sophomore musical theatre major from Pampa, as Sir Luce; Abigail Martin, a senior musical theatre major from Amarillo, as Lady Rowena; Clara Moos, a junior musical theatre major from Plano, as Lady Merrill; Peyton Jewett, a junior musical theatre major from Monahans, as first knight; and Alexander Hernandez, a junior theatre major from Amarillo, as second knight.

Ensemble members include Isabella Bailey, a sophomore musical theatre major from Little Elm; Morgan Baily, a sophomore musical theatre major from El Paso; Sterling Knight, a junior theatre from Amarillo; Zarek Womak, a sophomore musical theatre major from Christoval; Sarah Estes, a junior music education major from Turpin, Oklahoma; Mario Banos, a senior theatre major from Perryton; Tori Ybarra, a freshman musical theatre major from Austin; and Jacquline Arellano, a junior musical theatre major from El Paso.

Choreography is by Crystal Bertrand, WT’s senior instructor of dance and dance program director. Dance captain is Kynleigh Hilton, a senior dance major from Lubbock.

For tickets, visit the Box Office in the Fine Arts Complex, email artsboxoffice@wtamu.edu or call 806-651-2810.

Fostering an appreciation of the arts is a key component of the University’s long-range plan, WT 125: From the Panhandle to the World.

That plan is fueled by the historic, $125 million One West comprehensive fundraising campaign. To date, the campaign — which publicly launched in September 2021— has raised more than $125 million and will continue through 2025.

About West Texas A&M University

WT is located in Canyon, Texas, on a 342-acre residential campus. Established in 1910, the University has been part of The Texas A&M University System since 1990. WT, a Hispanic Serving Institution since 2016, boasts an enrollment of about 10,000 and offers 59 undergraduate degree programs and more than 40 graduate degrees, including two doctoral degrees. The University is also home to the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum, the largest history museum in the state and the home of one of the Southwest’s finest art collections. The Buffaloes are a member of the NCAA Division II Lone Star Conference and offers 14 men’s and women’s athletics programs.

Photo: Prince Dauntless the Drab (Ray Barber) attempts to court the unconventional Princess Winnifred (Jewel Schonhoff) in West Texas A&M University Theatre’s “Once Upon a Mattress,” running Sept. 28 to Oct. 7.

—WT—