MANSFIELD — Piper Donahue loves playing a princess who doesn’t act like, well, a princess.
“Winnifred is so much,” said the 17-year-old student at Madison Comprehensive and Pioneer Career & Technology Center.
“She’s loud. She’s crazy. And she has no sense of personal space or boundaries. She’s not like a princess,” Donahue said with a laugh.
Already a local stage veteran, Donahue brings Winnifred the Woebegone to life Friday night at the Mansfield Playhouse during “Once Upon a Mattress: Youth Edition,” joined by a cast of 19 other local youth performers.
It’s the 90-minute youth edition of the award-winning musical comedy based on the classic Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale, “The Princess and the Pea.”
If you go:
- “Once Upon a Mattress: Youth Edition” opens Friday night on a two-weekend run at the Mansfield Playhouse, 95 E. Third St.
- Shows are Jan. 16 and 17 and Jan. 23 and 24 at 7 pm. with a Sunday matinee on Jan. 25 at 2:30 p.m.
- Tickets are $15 for adults, $13 for seniors and $10 for students.
- Tickets can be purchased online by clicking here.
- Tickets can also be purchased by calling the theater box office at 419-522-2883 Wednesday through Friday from 1 to 6 p.m. and one hour prior to all performances.
The adult version opened on Broadway in 1959 and marked The Great White Way debut of comedian Carol Burnett, who originated the role of Princess Winnifred. The princess is just a simple swamp princess looking to win the heart of Prince Dauntless.
But can she pass the impossible test Queen Aggravain has in store for her?
It’s the latest show in the busy life of Donahue, marking the senior’s third show at the Playhouse and 20th production overall.
She was last seen at the historic community theater in June 2025, playing Matilda in “Disney’s The Little Mermaid Jr.”
“Winnifred is not your Cinderella. She is not Belle. She’s her own entity. It’s really interesting to try to find the balance between going so hard on this character and also making her palatable for everyone who will come see the show,” Donahue said.
“The hardest part is the music. It’s a lot of singing, and she’s gotta be nasally, but not so nasally that you’re irritating everybody around you.
“It’s an interesting kind of combination,” she said.
A student in the performing arts program at Pioneer, Donahue said her goal is to perform professionally one day.
“I am doing six to eight shows a year,” she said. “It seems like I am always auditioning.”
Donahue said she has been accepted to a few colleges already, planning to earn a bachelor’s degree in musical theater, performance and dance.
“I have a few more auditions before I have to choose a school,” she said.
(Below are photos from a dress rehearsal Monday evening from “Once Upon a Mattress: Youth Edition” at the Mansfield Playhouse. The story continues below the images.)
It’s the first true youth show of the 2025-26 season for Playhouse Artistic Director Doug Wertz, who said 50 area young people auditioned for the musical comedy.
The teenage cast features Nicky Morabito as Prince Dauntless, making his Playhouse debut, and Kinley Clow as Queen Aggravain.
“Queen Aggravain wants to make sure her little boy is going to marry the perfect princess, and so she puts them through these ridiculous tests — and nobody’s ever good enough in her eyes,” Wertz said.
“So there’s desperation throughout the kingdom because all the Ladies in Waiting want something to happen because there’s also a law that until Dauntless weds, they cannot, as well,” he said.
“So there’s a lot going on in the background, but it’s a lot of fun.
“It’s not a very long show. It moves right along, but it doesn’t feel like it, which is a good thing, not a bad thing,” Wertz said. “You get so engaged in it.
“I get amazed all the time at some of the growth of these kids. The voices are just phenomenal,” he said.
Morabito, a 15-year-old freshman at Ontario High School, has performed in shows at school and also at the Renaissance Theatre, most recently in “Matilda Jr.” in September.
“Instead of staying at just one theater, I wanted to perform at a few. They only have select shows for kids. I want to do theater year-around without a lot of breaks in between,” he said.
Morabito said he had known about “Once Upon a Mattress” even before he decided to audition for the role of Prince Dauntless.
“I had heard it’s pretty silly and fun and I like that,” he said. “I am very happened I was chosen to play Dauntless. He’s very childish and I think it’s a lot of fun to play childish roles.
He said keeping Dauntless as a “child” is essential.
“You can’t really venture off to like the older personality of yourself. You kind of just have to stay that, not a toddler, but he’s very, he’s very, very, immature,” he said.
Morabito, who has played soccer and run track at OHS, spends most of his time in theater. His post-high school plans are still formulating.
“I feel like doing something in theater is something I would like. I don’t have to be on the stage necessarily. I could be doing arts administration, working in the box office and stuff like that,” he said.
The 16-year-old Clow is a junior at Madison Comprehensive High School. She is in her sixth show at the Playhouse, also performing last year in Little Mermaid as Ursula.
“I think it’s a really fun show and I think, everybody contributes something to it, so it’s good to have everyone,” she said.
“(Queen Aggravain) is mean,” Clow said with a laugh. “She’s also funny, but she tries to dominate everyone else. I like playing a big role like that.”
Clow acknowledged her most recent role as the sea witch Ursula was perhaps not the nicest character on stage. Is a pattern forming?
“Yeah, I know. Maybe next show, I’ll get the villain again,” she said with a laugh.
“I think it’s hard to really be mean (on stage). I know everybody. I don’t want to be mean to them, but I have got to get into character. I have got to tell people to shut up,” she said.
Clow enjoys the theater, but it won’t be her career.
“I really want to go to Ohio State and major in chemistry,” she said.
“Once Upon a Mattress: Youth Edition” cast
Nicky Morabito as Prince Dauntless
Elijah Burton as Minstrel
Graycen Stevens as Jester
Kinley Clow as Queen Aggravain
Kaddelyn McGary as Princess #12
Taylor Beasley as Lady Larken
Kenan Burton as Wizard
Anna Ankrum as Lucille
Cece Kettering as Rowena
Aurelian Von Ehrenkrook as Sir Harry
Piper Donahue as Princess Winnifred the Woebegone
Ian Estrada-Gomez as Knight #1
Shaun Slagle as Knight #2
Gabriel Anderson as Knight #3
Layla Taylor, Hannah Jones, Ella Aquino, Madelyn Shafley, Jordyn Beasley, Kaddelyn McGary as Ladies in Waiting.