New London comedy runs April 20-22

By Scott Bellile

New London’s young theater actors are about to give audiences a comedic lesson on what happens when you lie about your identity.

“My Cousin Lino,” presented by New London High School in partnership with Wolf River Theatrical Troupe, will run April 20-22 at 7 p.m. at the NLHS auditorium.

In “My Cousin Lino,” siblings Jonathan and Katherine Prescott are preparing for their cousin, famous Italian botanist Lino, to visit the United States to speak at a fundraiser dinner for Katherine’s flower society. Lino cancels the trip last minute.

In an attempt to impress the flower society, the siblings desperately cast Jonathan’s American friend Robert as Lino. Robert, who gleans Italian vocabulary from a pizza menu and believes Lake Michigan sits at the end of Italy.
“And of course it all backfires,” play director Margie Brown said.

Although the story contains some dreadful kickers for the characters involved, the audience will be laughing, said NLHS junior Liz Radke, who plays the Prescott’s anxious housemaid Miss Carlson. The lines continue to make the actors laugh after all the time they’ve spent rehearsing.

“It’s a really fun play and there’s a lot of humor to it,” Radke said.

The play’s fast-paced one-liners add to the silliness, according to NLHS junior Nicole Hensel, who plays flower society member Myra Wells.

In one scene Hensel enjoys, actor Isaiah Doran, playing Robert, describes to characters a day in the life of Italy. It is totally nonsensical to anyone with a basic understanding of the country.

“It just constantly makes you laugh and our personalities as individuals come together and they work so well in making everybody want to laugh,” Hensel said of the play.

The play stars NLHS students Liam Fitzgerald (Jonathan Prescott), Dorea Lauer (Katherine Prescott), Isaiah Doran (Robert), Liz Radke (Miss Carlson), Joel Perez (Brockington), Taylor Popke (Mrs. Prescott), Haley Lewallen (Jennifer), Emelia Roberts (Mrs. Newbury), Haille Magolski (Natalie), Mason Garrigan (Beatrice), Nicole Hensel (Myra), Brayden Hahn (Paul), Mitchell Lee (Messenger) and Totyanna Martin (Ira). The stage manager is Austin Lederhaus.

Admission costs $10 for adults and $5 for students. Tickets will be available at the door.