WESTLOCK - COVID-19 has caused many changes this year, including the cancelation of many large events.
The Westlock Rotary Club, for a quarter of a century, put on a dinner theatre over three weekends in late October to early November, with generally seven plays accompanied by a sit-down dinner, and two Sunday matinees with no meals. Bunnie Arth organized and directed each of those plays, along with the help of several volunteers and cast members; some of whom were part of the effort over many years. The annual event was held in the Westlock & District Community Hall.
The meal was catered every year, and Rotary members became servers, waiters, bartenders, dishwashers, set up and cleanup crew for each of the performances, along with the help of spouses and volunteers from the community. It was a lot of fun for all involved, and was a great fundraiser for the club to help fund many community projects.
Bryce Lambert got involved as a high school student in one of the early plays, and came back after that each year to provide the sound and lighting for each of the plays as Kiwi Productions, operating out of the city. This past spring, knowing we would not be able to hold a regular dinner theatre production, Bryce approached the club with a suggestion and a plan to produce a play that could be produced as a movie and sent out through the internet with a fee to watch the movie.
The club accepted his offer, and Bryce, along with his wife Praneeta, set about organizing the movie. They gained permission from Bunnie Arth to use the Ole Koot’s theme from a couple of plays she had written for the dinner theatre program.
Praneeta wrote the script for the movie, and with the Ole Koot (Rex Vollema) and his wife, Beatrice (Karen Bouman), both from previous productions taking the lead role in an Ole Koot’s Campfire sequel Koot’s Quarantine, with a brief appearance from another former dinner theatre actor, Matthew Charrois as a hotel manager. Both
Praneeta and Bryce had a small role in the movie as well. The story was of a couple on their way for a holiday in New Zealand, and at a fuel stop in Fiji, wound up in a hotel room for a 14-day quarantine — hence the title.
Most of the production was shot in the Lambert’s home; in fact their bedroom, with some airplane shots in a plane at the Air Museum in Edmonton, graciously loaned to them for the occasion (just cockpit and cabin shots on the ground ). Bryce and Praneeta did all of the shooting and editing of the movie.
Virtual show dates were Oct. 23-25, 28-30 and Nov. 5-7, roughly corresponding to the dates the dinner theatre productions had been held.
Members were charged with selling the virtual show to customers. Barb Carbert, the club’s special events treasurer, went about selling advertising for the event, and provided the following details. She says 281 people purchased tickets online through PayPal and another the movie either at the ski hill, Westlock Legion, Pembina Lodge or Smithfield. She was able to get business advertisements for the movie from 66 businesses — not bad, considering the economy this year.
In her report on the first-ever Westlock Rotary virtual event, Barb said net income from the movie so far (with one more cheque to come in) was $5,769. That’s far below what the regular dinner theatre productions raised annually, but considering everything, not all that bad.
Of the movie, Barb notes, “It was a time of firsts. It was the first time Praneeta Lambert wrote a script. It was the first time Bryce Lambert produced a movie. It was the first time Karen Bouman acted in front of a camera. It was the first time for Westlock Rotary to show a locally made movie.”
She added, “It wasn’t perfect, but the effort and initiative was excellent. Matthew Charrois should be nominated for ‘best supporting actor.’ The pandemic forced us to think outside the box, and I admire Bryce for his drive and imagination. Bryce and Praneeta did a lot of work and spent countless hours writing and creating the story. We are fortunate to have an innovative guy like Bryce.”
