For immediate release May 1, 2008

Media contact: Jacquie Lucy 410-869-7168

CCBC’s Senior Star Showcase presents ‘Once Upon A Mattress’
Senior theatre at its best -- May 16, 17, 18 and 21 at CCBC Essex!

Baltimore County, Md. – The Community College of Baltimore County’s award-winning Senior Star Showcase performs “Once Upon A Mattress” 7:30 p.m. Friday, May 16, 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, May 17 and 18 and 1 p.m. Wednesday, May 21 in the B Building Theatre at CCBC Essex, 7201 Rossville Boulevard. Tickets, which are $12 general admission, $10 for senior adults and students and $8 for groups of 15 or more, are available from the CCBC Box Office at 410-780-6369. The production has two casts. The red cast performs Friday, May 16 and Sunday, May 18 and the blue cast performs Saturday, May 17 and Wednesday, May 21.

“Once Upon A Mattress,” based on Hans Christian Andersen’s tale, “The Princess and the Pea,” offers a hilarious take on the fanciful fairy tale. Due to a curse, King Sextimus (Don Brown of Towson [red cast]/Joseph Lee of Bel Air [blue cast]) has been rendered mute while his shrewish wife, Queen Aggravain (Susan Gonzalez of Parkville/Kathy Bova of Parkville) has seized control of the kingdom. Her goal is to keep her son, Prince Dauntless (Hank Butz of Dundalk/Tom Kowalski of Catonsville), single. The queen decrees that only a princess who can pass her test may marry the prince and furthermore, no one in the Kingdom may marry until Dauntless does!

This leads to an uproarious search for a princess who can pass the test. Lady Larken (Leila Hopkins of Rosedale/Marian Neeb of Perry Hall) and Sir Harry (Chuck Knauf of Catonsville/Ed Migol of Towson) desperately need to be married soon. Sir Harry’s quest to find the princess leads to Princess Winnifred (Kathryn Smith of Severna Park/Barbara Lutz of Glen Burnie). Winnifred and the prince immediately fall in love, but will this princess pass Queen Aggravain’s test?

Other featured roles are The Minstrel (Walter Graham of Baltimore City/Pat McArt of Perry Hall) and The Jester (Nellie Thurber of Essex/Dot Trabing of Towson). “The joy of senior theatre is that a person 72 years old can play a 16-year-old and if the acting is realistic and plausible, the audience soon forgets and the show is believable,” remarks Arne Lindquist, director of the CCBC Essex Senior Studies Program and founder of Senior Star Showcase. With “Once Upon A Mattress” the actors get to play it for laughs while showing off their acting skills.

Senior Star Showcase, established 28 years ago on the Essex campus, produces two major musicals on campus each year. The troupe performs at venues throughout the Baltimore/Washington area including local colleges, civic organizations, churches, synagogues, nursing homes, senior centers and retirement communities.