Kootenai Karacter Kraziness: The Boardinghouse

Director Shanda Jennings knows that the Nordicfest crowd – a merry bunch filling up on lutefisk and Ole and Lena jokes – won’t want to retire in the evening to a theater with solemn characters and foreboding music.

“I generally try to get the goofiest script I can for the Nordicfest,” Jennings said about this year’s production of “The Boardinghouse,” put on by the Kootenai Karacters.

The comedy bursts with ridiculous personalities – hypochondriac Martha, maid Tweenie, and painter Ivy, to name a few – that are centered around a boardinghouse run by Miss Harriet, a large, white-haired woman with a voice strangely too high-pitched (perhaps because she is played by Rick Curtiss).

What transpires when gold-hunters Dirk Shadow and Veronica join residents at the madhouse is up to audience members to find out. Did Gladys, a taxidermist, really stuff her dead husband and store him in the closet? Will Mrs. Snodgrass ever find her shoes?

The production will run in conjunction with Nordicfest with shows at 7 p.m. on Sept. 10, 11 and 12, and 2 p.m. on Sept. 12 in the Little Theatre. Tickets – $9 for adults and $5 for students – will not only grant admission to a first-class play, but will also offer hilarious commercials created by the cast to advertise local businesses.

Jennings says that shooting, producing and editing six new commercials while simultaneously rehearsing for the show has been the biggest challenge so far.

“I’m a crazy lady right about now,” she said last week, describing the latest commercial. “On Sunday we did a big dance number, ‘Greased Lightning,’ in the middle of Napa. All the ‘customers’ burst into song and dance.”

Jennings’ stereo wouldn’t play the song because it was burned onto the CD in a format that the stereo couldn’t read. With little time to spare, the cast winged it, going through 52 seconds of “Greased Lightning” with the music to be added later during the editing process.

They must be talented, Jennings said, because they pulled it off. The six new commercials and three commercials produced by last year’s cast will be shown as part of the entertainment.

The production is all about showing audience members a good time, Jennings said, while also raising money for two annual scholarships for graduating seniors.  

“It’s just a really fun thing to do after a hot day at Nordicfest,” Jennings said. “Just sit down and have some laughs.”

Ticket Info

The Kootenai Karacters will perform The Boardinghouse at The Little Theatre on Sept. 10, 11 and 12 at 7 p.m., and Sept. 12 at 2 p.m.

Tickets can be purchased at the door or in advance at Reel Time Movies in Libby – $9 for adults and $5 for kids and students.