Dinner Theatre - 2011 - "Zorro's Back in Town"



(Click for Collage Pictures - collage 1, collage 2, collage 3)

On April 1 and 2 those attending the Kenaston Dinner Theatre were treated to a taste of New Mexico when the play "Zorro's Back in Town", written by Tim Kelly and produced by special arrangements with Pioneer Drama Service, Inc. of Engelwood, Colorado, was performed at Kenaston Place. The directors, Melanie Kerpan and Kathy Enns, not also designed and constructed the set, with help from Ray Enns and Rosemary O'Handley, but also arranged for costumes. Gene Pavelich was in charge of lights and sound for the production and Allan Kerpan handled the prompting.

The play is set at the Hotel Cucaracha, owned by Buck Badum, (Josh Kerpan) who has swindled the citizens and has complete control of the town. He is assisted by the gun-toting, but not too bright, Sherriff Toady, (Kent Anholt) and the hopelessly untalented hotel entertainer, Conchita (Kate Zdunich). She shows some compassion to Don Alfredo (Tim Holder) who shows up to demand justice and instead ends up losing his last possession in a crooked card draw. His wife, the dramatic and flamboyant Senora De Le Guitar (Cindy Menzies), is overjoyed that he is still alive after his confrontation with Buck. Visitors from California, Henry (Aaron Biberdorf) and his Aunt Victoria (Rosemary O'Handley) arrive at the hotel with the news that the hotel maid, Alice Sweepup (Brittney Carlson) is the heir to a gold mine. Buck and his cohorts decide to lay claim to the deed by pretending that Conchita is Alice. Henry, a bookworm by nature, is moved by the plight of the citizen, especially the wretched Widder Jones (Sally Siroski) and her equally wretched daughter, Lucinda (Nancy Carlson). By chance, Henry meets the real Alice Sweepup, and it is love at first sight. Alice is captured by the sheriff and hidden in the root cellar so the deed to the gold mine can be unwittingly given to Conchita. In celebration, Buck and Conchita, who are pleased with their latest acquisition, decide to throw a party with balloons and dip, otherwise known as a fiesta. After the fiesta food, desserts delivered to the tables by the cast members, Buck introduces the acts for the entertainment portion of the fiesta. Under protest, Don Alfredo is forced to dance the flamenco. The next performance was a hilarious hand dance routine featuring Cory Ouellette and Carla Chomyshen. Derrell Hrynchyshyn, who provided guitar segments throughout the play, sang an original song about the play's characters. Following an unexpected appearance by Captain Barney Kuhl, (Allan Kerpan) from last year's play, a pathetic song and dance number was performed by Conchita. In the meantime, Henry, inspired by his love of books, disguises himself as Zorro, appears and steals back the deed. A chase through the audience ensues, followed by an exciting duel. Under the mistaken impression that he is the star of the show, Buck Badum has to call in a stuntman (Gene Pavelich) to make the precarious three- foot jump from the registration desk. As expected, Zorro is victorious and Buck is forced to return what he has stolen from the townspeople. Zorro reveals his identity and he and Alice are reunited.

The play was preceded by a cocktail hour and a fabulous dinner prepared by Zdunich and Company on Friday night and Well Seasoned on Saturday night. Community volunteers handled marketing, ticket sales, table setup and decorations, appetizers and dessert preparation, backstage food, waiting, bartending, dishwashing, and cleanup with some help from the students at Kenaston School, Once again, a great community effort ensured a successful Dinner Theatre. (by Rosemary O'Handley)

The Kenaston community and area can be very proud of their 9th successful, classy Dinner Theatre weekend, decorated with a spring atmosphere, a delightful meal, and a hilarious performance of the play "Sadie Flynn Comes to Big Oak".

Dinner Theatre Committee coordinators, Albert and Joanne Hoffmann began the planning process in January, 2005. Committees set to work handling food, decorating, performing, and volunteering for all of the many responsibilities that these two evenings involve. The Kenaston Community Dinner Theatre Committee is grateful for the many volunteers from the Kenaston and Hawarden surrounding area for donating their valuable time and efforts. We would like to take this opportunity to extend our great appreciation to the years of service that Albert and Joanne have put into coordinating the Dinner Theatre Committee and we will greatly miss their leadership in our 2006 year. We are very confident that they will be of great support to whoever takes on this position next year and if you are interested please let them know. Thanks again Albert and Joanne!

For the first time the Kenaston School Staff took on the huge responsibility of organizing the meal portion of the evening and donated their time, effort, (and Easter Break) to prepare and serve a delectable chicken breast dinner to 384 guests! This community is always willing to volunteer their time and there were many talented volunteers working in all areas of food preparation, dessert, appetizers, and salads whether cooking, serving, or cleaning-up. The guests were greeted by 7 hostesses and served by 25 waiters and 8 bartenders. Many households happily donated food items and oven space and we are very appreciative of all personal donations made from community members.

The treasure chest, an annual raffle held at Dinner Theatre, continued to benefit Kenaston Place with its proceeds. Special thanks to Terri Sieban for collecting this year's beautiful prizes and selling the tickets. This year's winners were Joni Zdunich and Cory Ouellette of Kenaston both winning a patio swing, Ken Rosaasen of Saskatoon & Stella Kergen of Davidson each winning a firepit, Brenda Klepy of Saskatoon & Greg Heinbigner of Saskatoon each winning a bird bath, and Joan Didur and Kim Johnson of Kenaston each winning tickets to Kenaston's 2006 Dinner Theatre. Congratulations to this year's winners!

Once the meal portion of the evening was completed, the cast of "Sadie Flynn Comes to Big Oak" stepped out to entertain the crowd. Preparations for the play began in February and directors Idelle Westman and Colleen Sekulich were on the lookout for five aspiring actors. They didn't have to look far as five former Dinner Theatre alumni jumped up to the plate. This Canadian-based play is set in Big Oak, an ordinary small town with ordinary people where nothing extraordinary ever happens. Tom Shaw (Darrell Kerpan) along with Orson Hubble (Tim Holder) operate the café in town where the locals, Rachel Blessington (Linda Purves) and Bev Dupuis (Elaine Feltis) gather for coffee and the latest low down. Things suddenly change and Big Oak comes to life when Sadie Flynn (Cindy Menzies) pays a visit. Such a small cast meant for a lot of lines to memorize, yet the cast was still laughing and cracking up at the on and off-stage antics of this particular play. The cast and directors would like to sincerely thank: Alice Hill for prompting; Jordan Richardson and Tim Holder for their sound and light expertise; Robert and Idelle Westman, Sonia Howells, along with Tim Holder and Darrell Kerpan for their hard work on the set; and Elaine Feltis for her work with costumes and support of the cast. The cast also greatly appreciates the School of Dance for sharing the stage and those who catered appetizers for the cast.

To the many dedicated volunteers who made these two evenings possible, we thank you for making "Sadie Flynn Comes to Big Oak" a great success. Thank you to all of those who supported this community effort and we look forward to entertaining you all next year!
Submitted by:
Cindy Menzies and Shirley Sanderson
Advertising Committee

On April 3 and 4, 2004 Kenaston Place was filled with community spirit with its eighth successful Dinner Theatre weekend. Guests coming from near and far were welcomed into a delightful spring atmosphere to enjoy a delicious dinner with a classy dessert parade and an entertaining performance of the play "No Sex Please, We're British".

The Kenaston Community Dinner Theatre Committee, headed by Albert and Joanne Hoffmann, began planning in January, 2004. Committees were struck for food, decorations and performing, and community members began volunteering. The Kenaston Community Dinner Theatre Committee would like to express its gratitude to the 185 volunteers from the Kenaston and Hawarden surrounding area for donating their valuable time and efforts. Numerous community volunteers, under the guidance and direction of Susan Anholt and Evelyn Mills, donated their time and effort to prepare and serve a delicious roast beef dinner to a new record of 484 guests!

Talent is not only something for the stage - there were 105 talented volunteers working in all areas of food preparation, dessert, appetizers, and salads whether cooking, serving, or cleaning-up. The guests were greeted by 9 hostesses and served by 30 waiters and 9 bartenders. 46 households happily donated food items and we are very appreciative of all personal donations made from community members.

The treasure chest, an annual raffle held at Dinner Theatre, continued to benefit Kenaston Place with its proceeds. Special thanks to Terri Sieban for collecting this year's fabulous prizes and selling the tickets. This year's winners were Darren Siroski of Kenaston & Gwen Allan of Davidson both winning a Home Theatre System, Anne Willner of Davidson & Vanna Gay Shaw of Davidson both winning a digital camera with printer, and Greg Mitchell of Saskatoon & Norlane McIvor of Davidson both winning tickets to Kenaston's 2005 Dinner Theatre. Congratulations to this year's winners!

Once the meal portion of the evening was completed, the cast of "No Sex Please, We're British" stepped out to entertain the crowd. Preparations for the play began in January and directors Idelle Westman and Colleen Sekulich were on the lookout for ten aspiring actors. Although returning performers from previous Kenaston productions were ready to begin, there were still two roles without players - one of which was the male lead! Thankfully two young talents, Jordan Richardson of Hanley and Brandyn Chomyshen (a graduate from Kenaston School), stepped up to the roles and completed the cast of ten.

The play is set in a bank apartment where newly married Frances Hunter (Cindy Menzies) mistakenly orders various shipments of pornography. She and husband Peter (Richardson) attempt to dispose of these unfortunate arrivals by placing far too much of the responsibility on a bumbling bank clerk (Elaine Feltis). To complicate matters the Hunters are paid visits by a nosy mother-in-law (Sally Siroski), the bank manager (Darrell Kerpan), the bank inspector (Chomyshen), the police superintendent (Ray Enns), and 2 "working girls" from the company that had sent the shipments (Linda Purves and Mick Hertz).

The cast and directors would like to sincerely thank: Bob Mason for his on-stage talents and off-stage assistance, Tim Holder for his sound and light expertise, Sonia Howells for her backstage assistance, the many hard workers who put together the set, and Elaine Feltis for her work with costumes and all of the experience she brings to the stage.

To the many dedicated volunteers who made these two evenings possible, we thank you for making "No Sex Please, We're British" a complete success. We couldn't have done it without you! To those of you who attended, we look forward to seeing you next year!Submitted by Cindy Menzies and Shirley SandersonTOP ROW: Colleen Sekulich, Ray EnnsMIDDLE ROW: Bob Mason, Brandyn Chomyshen, Darrell Kerpan, Idelle Westman, Tim Holder, Linda Purves, Sonia HowellsFRONT ROW: Elaine Feltis, Jordan Richardson, Sally Siroski, Cindy Menzies, Mick Hertz

2002 Production
"Who Dun It!"