Prior Lake High School students will perform three one-act comedies, “Search for Cindy”, “The Wonder Hat”, and “Chuckling in Limbo) on Thursday – Saturday, January 11-13 at 7:30 p.m. in the Prior Lake High School auditorium, 7575 W. 150th St., Savage. Tickets will be available at the door and cost $6 for adults and $4 for students ($3 with student ID).

This year’s winter one-act plays at Prior Lake High School should bring smiles to the audience.

Each of the three performance hinges on comedy.

Some of the plays are student-directed, while the one directed by teacher Carol Ottoson is another original script by local playwright Troy Tradup, who has worked with the high school students on some of his world-premiere works in the past.

“Search for Cindy,” by Tim Kochenderfer will be the troupe’s performance piece for competition within the Missota Conference, which begins with a festival performance on Thursday, Jan. 18, a subsection performance on Friday, Jan. 26, and a potential sections performance on Saturday, Feb. 3.

Senior Nick Wilson takes on the role of Tim, a man who realizes he’s doomed to date only girls named Cindy after tattooing an ex-girlfriend’s name on his back.

“His girlfriend breaks up with him, and he realizes he has to get the tattoo removed,” explained Junior Stephani Holm, business manager for the production.

The comedy takes a humorous turn early, when Wilson falls for a woman named Hope, played by Nick Wilson and Melissa
Eischens do a silly dance
during "Search for Cindy.".

The play is directed by Jennifer Will, and Junior Chae Alverio acts as stage manager.

Other lead cast members include  sophomore Alex Fritz as a tattoo artist, senior Jessica Brown as a super model, junior Austin Blanch as Mat, junior Ryanne Dunning as a host and attendant, freshman Brett Webster as a DJ, junior Chloe Radcliffe as a fortune teller, and junior Daniel Lein as a stranger.

The second one-act to hit the stage “The Wonder Hat,” is directed by students seniors Ashley Cappuccino and Natasha Smith and written by Ben Hecht and Kenneth Sawyer Goodman.

The play takes a leap back in time, but still pokes fun at timeless conventions of dating and relationships.

Smith said the play begins with some magic items a peddler sells in the park.

“He sells shoes, that is a woman wears it, it makes all men fall in love with her, and a [men’s] hat that makes people invisible,” Smith said.

“The woman buys the shoes, and the guy buys the hat,” Cappucino added.

The result: a tumult through the park as men pursue Columbine, played by senior Luanna Woodrow, as Harlequin, played by junior Shaun Gosse, disappears under a magic hat, so he can be near Columbine, but doesn’t have to commit to her.

“He’d rather be invisible around her than make a commitment,” Smith said.

Sarah Wente plays
Punchinello, a park peddler
who pokes fun at love, in the
one-act comedy, “The
Wonder Hat.”Other key players include sophomore Sarah Wente as a peddler, Punchinello, junior Evan Gaydos, as Margot and a servant, and sophomore Katie Broz as Pierrot, a friend of Harlequin.

Smith said directing the one-act was harder than she’d imagined.

“We have short rehearsals and we only had a few weeks,” she said.

Luckily, the crew had a windfall in costuming, when they retrieved undiscovered costumes left at the former high school.

Cappuccino said one benefit of a one-act play is that there are fewer lines in general.

“It’s easier to make it flow,” Smith said. “It’s one long scene.”

The concluding one-act play by Tradup had to be adapted for a younger audience. While “Chuckling in Limbo” was trimmed to be age-appropriate, it will still bring laughs, actors said.

The show has a small cast of three leads: sophomore Alex Burt as Hansel, freshman Emily Cooper as Gretel and sophomore Jenna Geris as Mutti.

“It’s the story of Hansel and Gretel, but with a darker twist,” Burt said. “They’re both 17 and it’s after they’ve killed the witch.”

The group agreed it had been “edited for an NC-17 version.”

“It’s more about the struggle,” Burt said.

From an actor’s perspective, Burt said it’s easier to get in character for the scene.

“You kind of jump into the whole thing easily,” Burt said.

Burt said he thought the audience would appreciate the adaptation of the traditional fairy tale.

“‘Chuckling in Limbo’ is a very interesting twist on the classic tale of Hansel and Gretel,” he said.

As for the other plays? “The other two are funny and very good one-acts.”

 Joanna Miller can be reached at (952) 345-6375 or jmiller@swpub.com.