The Humboldt Community Gathering Place was turned into a boarding house for two nights, as the Humboldt Theatre Club hosted their production of The Boardinghouse.
The Aug. 24 and 25 production featured a unique cast of characters who all lived in a boardinghouse.
Harriet, played by Katherine Draude, ran the boardinghouse, with the help of Tweenie, played by Jesse Green, who is none-too-bright and perpetually terrified.
Accompanying the pair in the boardinghouse are Mr. Richards, played by Tyson Greff, who is a poet and practices dying to spark his inspiration, Gladys Klotz, played by Yvonne Richardson, who is a taxidermist, prefers her men stuffed, and has a direct line to the spirit world, and Martha Willis, played by Alanna Bergquist, who has every illness imaginable from leprosy to pneumonia, to heart palpitations.
Also living in the boardinghouse are Hortense, played by Felisha Benitez, who tries her best to keep up with Ivy, played by Katie Yamniuk, who is a free spirited artist and enjoys painting people’s faces, whether they like it or not.
In search of treasure, which was supposedly buried in the basement by Captain Schnook, are Dirk Shadow, played by Joseph Yamniuk, and his sister Veronica, played by Annette M. Magus.
Together the cast of characters, along with Dr. Sni-Fell, who is called to check on one of Willis’ many “illnesses” tried to uncover whether the treasure existed or not.
Show director Sarah Miller admitted that the unique cast of characters made for a more challenging show, but says the key was encouraging the actors to go outside of their box.
“A lot of the character roles are very unique in the sense that they have to be really over the top. And just encouraging them to be outgoing and brave on the stage and to give it everything they have when they’re out there, it really allowed them to come out of their comfort zone in a way that they could display that on stage.”
Miller says she picked this show after two other shows did not fit the number of cast members they had, and says this show seemed to suit the cast members.
The Aug. 24 production was packed, which was great to see, says Miller, who notes that they always expect fewer than they get.
“It’s nice to know that Humboldt still supports theatre and maybe in the future it can be something that they’ll support more… We’ve had three productions in the last year and a half, two years and the attendance just keeps getting better and better so hopefully it’ll continue.”
The show was aided by a number of sponsors who helped make sure the show could get from the page to the stage, and Miller says without them it would be impossible.
“We don’t really have an income where we can go out and buy a bunch of food for all the people or even pay rent sometimes. So it’s really nice to know that we have these other groups behind us… and they support us and it’s really important to know that they care about local groups in the community.”
Looking ahead, auditions for the next production, will be coming up in October or November, with the show hitting the stage likely in February, says Miller.
Miller would like to thank everyone for all their support for all three shows, over the last year and a half.
“We hope that they continue to support us. And we’re always looking for more actors so if anyone’s interested they can always find us on Facebook.”
