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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; With a name like Aggravain, you might guess a medieval queen is aggravating. And vain. Probably not the most generous mother &#8212; or potential mother-in-law.</p><p>You would be right.</p><p>&#8220;She wants to keep her kid as long as she can. If that means he never gets married, so be it,&#8221; said Morgan Gayton, 16, who will portray the calculating queen in &#8220;Once Upon A Mattress&#8221; when the Coughlin/GAR/Creative and Performing Arts Academy Players bring the musical to the GAR High School stage Feb. 28 through March 3.</p><p>The musical is based on the traditional fairy tale, The Princess and the Pea, so any princess who might be interested in marrying the queen&#8217;s son, Prince Dauntless &#8212; &#8220;her baby boy, her only son,&#8221; Gayton pointed out &#8212; will have to pass some sort of unusual test.</p><p>What might the test entail?</p><p>During a recent rehearsal, 18-year-old Nathan Searfoss, as Prince Dauntless, and 15-year-old Abbigail Schultz, as Princess Winnifred, nicknamed Fred, showed the knights and ladies of the kingdom that Fred would be able to meet various challenges that the queen might propose &#8212; everything from playing a musical instrument to &#8220;drinking like a lord&#8221; to demonstrating feats of strength.</p><p>Ha! Feats of strength are second nature to Fred, who is athletic enough to not only swim the castle moat but to dance an arduous routine called the &#8220;Spanish Panic,&#8221; which the queen hoped would exhaust her, and call out &#8220;Let&#8217;s do it again!&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;She just has it in herself (to have so much energy),&#8221; Schultz said. &#8220;She has a very outgoing personality, like me.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;She brings out the good and the quirkiness in Prince Dauntless,&#8221; Schultz added.</p><p>It&#8217;s Princess Fred&#8217;s own quirkiness, in turn, that impresses Dauntless, Searfoss said. Plus, &#8220;Prince Dauntless admires the way she doesn&#8217;t care what the queen thinks.&#8221;</p><p>Trying to set an impossibly high standard, the queen will decree the princess must prove her worthiness by sleeping &#8212; or rather, failing to fall asleep &#8212; in a bed wherein a pea has been placed.</p><p>Will the princess prove suitably sensitive? Or will she snooze and lose? Will there be a wedding?</p><p>&#8220;You&#8217;ve got to come and see,&#8221; Schultz said before leaving the rehearsal for dance class.</p><p>It seems almost everyone in the kingdom &#8212; except Queen Aggravain &#8212; wants the Dauntless/Winnifred wedding to come about, because no one else is allowed to marry until the prince does. Another couple, Lady Larken and Sir Harry, are especially eager to wed.</p><p>The play is fun for all ages, said director Alice Y. Lyons, who had a turn at portraying the evil queen in a Wilkes University production as well as a Misfit Players production years ago.</p><p>Younger children will especially enjoy Kaiden Harris&#8217; performance as Prince Dauntless&#8217; father, King Sextimus the Silent, she said, because he has to communicate through pantomime until a curse is lifted.</p><p>&#8220;Everybody loves the king,&#8221; she said.</p><p>Audiences will also appreciate the likable, moat-swimming Fred, she said.</p><p>&#8220;She&#8217;s her own woman. She&#8217;s strong,&#8221; Lyons said. &#8220;I&#8217;ve told the girls who play the ladies in waiting in the ensemble that they look up to her and want to emulate her.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Just about everyone in the musical &#8216;Once Upon A Mattress&#8217; wants to see Princess Winnifred (Abbigail Schultz) and Prince Dauntless (Nathan Searfoss) live happily ever after, except for the prince&#8217;s mother. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_mattress1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Just about everyone in the musical &#8216;Once Upon A Mattress&#8217; wants to see Princess Winnifred (Abbigail Schultz) and Prince Dauntless (Nathan Searfoss) live happily ever after, except for the prince&#8217;s mother. </caption0><photoCredit0>Submitted photo </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_mattress2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">The minstrel (Hailey McMullen) and Jester (Gracie Sinclair) gaze down at two couples they would like to see live happily ever after: Lady Larken (Bryna Soriano) and Sir Harry (Logan Padden), and Princess Winnifred (Abbigail Schultz) and Prince Dauntless (Nathan Searfoss) when the Coughlin/GAR Players present &#8216;Once Upon A Mattress&#8217; Feb. 28 through March 3. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_mattress2.jpg</photo1><caption1>The minstrel (Hailey McMullen) and Jester (Gracie Sinclair) gaze down at two couples they would like to see live happily ever after: Lady Larken (Bryna Soriano) and Sir Harry (Logan Padden), and Princess Winnifred (Abbigail Schultz) and Prince Dauntless (Nathan Searfoss) when the Coughlin/GAR Players present &#8216;Once Upon A Mattress&#8217; Feb. 28 through March 3. </caption1><photoCredit1>Submitted photo </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_mattress.with_.jester.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">The Minstrel (Hailey McMullen), Lady Larken (Bryna Soriano) and the Jester (Gracie Sinclair) are three of the colorful characters set to appear in &#8216;Once Upon A Mattress&#8217; at GAR High School. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_mattress.with_.jester.jpg</photo2><caption2>The Minstrel (Hailey McMullen), Lady Larken (Bryna Soriano) and the Jester (Gracie Sinclair) are three of the colorful characters set to appear in &#8216;Once Upon A Mattress&#8217; at GAR High School. </caption2><photoCredit2>Submitted photo </photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Coughlin/GAR Players stage &#8216;Once Upon A Mattress&#8217;</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Mary Therese Biebel</p><p>mbiebel@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>IF YOU GO </strong></p><p><strong>What:</strong> Once Upon A Mattress</p><p><strong>When: </strong>7 p.m. Feb. 28, March 1 and March 2 and 2 p.m. March 3</p><p><strong>Where: </strong>GAR High School Auditorium, 250 South Grant St., Wilkes-Barre</p><p><strong>Tickets:</strong> Can be purchased day of show, 45 minutes prior to start time, at the door. $10 for all ages, cash only. On Thursday Feb. 28 only, there is a discounted rate of $7 for senior citizens 55 and older. All others, $10.</p><p><strong>Info: </strong>570-826-7111 ext. 5201 and leave a message. </p></factboxMeta></div>

How sensitive is this princess?