Lisbon High School will be presenting a piece of local history with their production of “Someone Who Knew Her” Friday, April 14, Saturday, April 15 and Sunday, April 16. Showtimes are 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday, with tickets $10 at the door.
“Someone Who Knew Her” is a dramatization of the unsolved murder case of Marlene Ruth “Mickey” Padfield from the Mount Vernon and Lisbon communities from the 1950s. Padfield went missing in Feb. 1959 and was later discovered in April 1959 on a dirt road between Mount Vernon and Cedar Rapids.
Grant Freeman and Amy White worked together on the screenplay for this particular production.
“Former mayor Beryl O’Connor had previously worked with Amy White writing a show about this case as well in 2014,” Freeman said. “Our culture has an obsession with true crime stories, but so many of those cases focus so much on the actual crime and criminal, but not the victims themselves. This script is a way to tell it while honoring the life and the people of the time.”
Freeman said what helped his script was a fascination with journalism films and scripts. Some of his favorite movies include “Spotlight” and “All the President’s Men,” and his family also has ties to journalism.
Getting COVID-19 in the middle of the production, as well as the busy lives of the students on his cast and crew, has impacted this production.
“We at Lisbon have students who work as both part of our cast and stage crew, so that means some tech items like set building and painting are being done outside of practice,” Freeman said.
Freeman notes this is a more difficult and challenging show.
Holley Dighton, eighth grader, plays young Susie in the production, a friend of the murdered victim.
“For me, what I’ve enjoyed has been working with many of the high school cast that I’ll be working alongside in the future,” Dighton said.
She also relates to Susie as a character, because her family also knew Marlene Padfield.
“That helped to influence my take with Susie as a character, as hearing about her from my family, I always knew her as a good person,” Dighton said.
Ava Cossolotto plays the older version of Susie, and notes one of the things she has enjoyed in the play has been the connection she has found with Dighton to portray this character across two different times in their lives.
“The challenge has definitely been the depth and portraying someone who is real in life,” Cossolotto said.
Cossolotto recommends seeing the play because it’s about the history of Mount Vernon and Lisbon.
“It’s something that actually happened here,” Cossolotto said. “It has a strong anti-bullying message.”
Sophia Roberts plays Katy, an investigative reporter working on a story on the case.
This is Roberts’ first play, and she said that she has really loved getting to work with and know everyone in the cast.
“I have loved getting to spend time with people I’ve never had a close connection to,” Roberts said.
Roberts recommended that people should see the play because it has a Mount Vernon and Lisbon focus.
“It’s really entertaining,” Roberts said. “There are funny moments throughout, but the play has a great message as well.”
“It honors those who were alive at the time dealing with this incident,” Freeman said. “I really hope the community comes out and sees this production.”
Lisbon presents “Someone Who Knew Her”
April 13, 2023
About the Contributor
Nathan Countryman, Editor
Nathan Countryman is the Editor of the Mount Vernon-Lisbon Sun.