WESTLOCK - The first virtual Westlock Rotary Dinner Theatre show Koot’s Quarantine will air starting this Friday, Oct. 23, with subsequent showings Oct. 24-25, 28-30 and Nov. 5-7. Tickets to view the show can be purchased online at www.rotarydinnertheatre.ca, where 50-50 tickets will also be available.
Tawatinaw Valley Ski Hill will be hosting an Oct. 23 showing at the chalet, with food and drinks available, and seating will be in accordance with COVID-19 rules.
The Westlock Rotary Club is also having a special evening Oct. 30, and meals with Rotary Delivery (similar to the Skip the Dishes idea) to homes within a 10-kilometre radius of the Town of Westlock. The cost will be the $20, plus meal charges —those interested must order ahead of time to allow the caterer to be able to prepare an adequate number of meals. Also that same evening, the Canadian Tractor Museum will be holding an in-house showing for a limited number of guests. Also, plans are also underway to be able to have a showing at both Pembina and Smithfield Lodges for the seniors there.
Our recent article on this latest Ole Koot’s adventures contained incorrect information.
While the main characters, Ole Koot (Rex Vollema) and his wife Bea (Karen Bouman) is correct, with minor parts played by Matthew Charrois, and both Bryce and Praneeta Lambert, the production information was somewhat misinformed.
Kiwi productions — Bryce and Praneeta — did all of the work involved in organizing Koot’s Quarantine, providing their home and bedroom for most of the movie, with the airplane scenes done at the air museum at the former Edmonton airport. They have put a tremendous amount of personal time and effort into this production; well over 100 hours as Bryce noted.
The concept of producing the show was entirely theirs as they had approached Bunnie Arth, who wrote the original Koot’s Campfire and the sequels to that, to see if she would be interested in a movie presentation on the same theme. She gave them the rights to Koot’s, saving Westlock Rotary any royalty fee, but was unable to write a script that would be workable as a movie.
As Praneeta noted, everything else from there on — the idea, writing the entire script, filming and editing were all done by Bryce and herself. She wrote the script, came up with the name and helped Bryce with filming and directing as his crew and also played a small role in the movie itself. Charrois and Bryce also played very small cameo roles within the movie. As Praneeta noted, it would have been nice to have had more people involved, but due to COVID-19, “We decided to go with a very small cast so that safety protocols were being adhered to. I know there are many wonderful actors in Westlock who would have loved to support Rotary, but maybe that could be a future opportunity for them.”
She notes, “Karen and Rex put their time and heart into this and it’s going to be so different from anything that’s been produced for the Westlock Dinner Theatre.”
This is a romantic comedy you won’t want to miss, and can enjoy it with friends at one of the larger gatherings or just in your own home.
