Backyard theater’s revival in Valley Stream

After a year hiatus, theater is returning to the backyard of the Ferro family. This weekend’s production will be the sixth for the group of friends and siblings.

Central High School graduate Danny Ferro, who just finished his freshman year at Boston University, chose “Once Upon a Mattress” as this year’s play. “We had a lot of choices,” he said. “In the end, we wanted to do a musical comedy and this is quite the comedic show.”

Additionally, Danny said he has a very talented group of actors and “Once Upon a Mattress” has many lead roles. It gives several people the opportunity to shine on stage, he said.

The group includes students in college, high school and even elementary school. Among the cast members are Ferro’s brothers — Michael, who attends North High School, and Christopher, a student at the James A. Dever School.

Christopher, although only 9, has been in all six Ferro productions. His roles have gotten bigger over the years. This year he plays Sir Froggo and said he enjoys the part because he gets to be a frog.

Michael plays Sir Studley and is one of the narrators of the play along with North High classmate Nick Miller, a.k.a. Sir Luce. Both boys are also acting in their sixth backyard production.

Laura Koenig has one of the lead roles in the play, starring as Queen Aggravain. She describes her character as a “control freak.” The queen has to find someone for her son, Prince Dauntless, to marry but she doesn’t try very hard because she doesn’t actually want him to get married.

“She likes to hear herself talk,” Laura said of her character, “so I have very, very long paragraphs of speaking.”

Prince Dauntless is being portrayed by recent high school graduate Max Meltzer. This is his first Ferro show, but he has acted alongside Laura and Danny on the Central High School stage.

Max said he is familiar with the Ferro productions because he came to see “Beauty and the Beast” performed in the backyard three years ago. “I’m glad I got to be a part of it,” he said.

Hannah DeLeon, a veteran of the shows, plays Princess Winifred. She said the princess is “a nut” so she is trying to make her character as funny and over the top as possible. For Hannah, a 2009 graduate of North High School and Westminster College student, she is glad the backyard theater productions are back to keep busy during the summer. “I have nothing to do with my life except the show,” she said laughing. “This is my life.”

Kelly Miller plays the ditzy problem starter Lady Larkin. Danny, who plays Sir Harry, is her knight. However, the two cannot get married because no one in the kingdom can until Prince Dauntless does. She said she is really pleased with this year’s choice of plays. “I really like all the songs,” Kelly said. “I like that it’s a really funny play. You get to have a lot of fun with your character.”

Caitlyn Piccirillo has several roles, including Princess No. 12, Lady H and Lady Maybelle. The acting major at Adelphi University has been in all but one of the Ferro plays. The same goes for Brianna Ciambra, who plays Lady Lucille. Choreographing all the dances is Shannon McBride, who also plays the Jester.

Nick Englese is Nightingale. He said because of work and summer classes at Nassau Community College, he had to take a smaller role than he has had in the past. Nick said he has really seen the plays blossom over the course of six shows. “It evolved a lot,” he said. “The talent got a lot better and we all grew closer.”

Although there was no play last year, the group still got together. They hosted the “Eggys” — their version of the Tony awards based on the first five shows in the Ferro’s backyard. They rented space in a temple, rolled out the red carpet — literally — and got dressed up as the girls found a new use for their old prom dresses. Danny’s brother, Greg, put together a video presentation announcing each winner.

This is the first year Greg will not be involved in the production as he is staying at college this summer.