The cast of the Wolf Creek Players’ production of “The Boardinghouse” examines a suspicious bone (held by Jeremy Hartman, seated) during the Saturday, October 2 evening staging in the Union Middle School auditorium. From left to right, Ruth Laackmann, Pat Arp, Christian Ryan, Missie Purdy, Reta Callahan, Jeremy Hartman (seated), Sandi Hulst, Brayden Ryan, and Jana Ryan. Only cast member Jennifer Reese is missing from the scene. Photo by Soren M. Peterson

The show must go on.

For members of Wolf Creek Players — Dysart’s community theater troupe — this past weekend was a perfect time to return to the stage following a pandemic-induced absence as they gear up to celebrate their tenth year.

“After dealing with COVID for a year and not being able to perform, they were excited to get back to it,” Director Deb Kloster told the audience from the Union Middle School auditorium stage moments before the Saturday evening performance of “The Boardinghouse” by Vern Harden was set to begin.

“They were so excited to be back,” Kloster continued, “they were a week ahead of schedule memorizing their lines!”

Billed as a family comedy by Pioneer Drama Service, Wolf Creek Players’ production of “The Boardinghouse” featured a cast of ten including Sandi Hulst as ‘Harriet’ the proprietor of the boarding house in which the play is set; Jana Ryan as ‘Tweenie’ the hapless, hysterical, newly minted boarding house servant who spends practically all her time concocting new brews of tea; Brayden Ryan as ‘Mr. Richards,’ one of the boarding house residents and a writer/poet who never seems to write anything but infuses plenty of drama into his own existence; and Christian Ryan as ‘Dirk Shadow,’ a moody, frustrated visitor to the boarding house who’s on the hunt for a pirate’s treasure he believes to be buried on the boarding house grounds.

Union High School freshman Brayden Ryan dramatically kneels on stage while in character as the melodramatic Mr. Richards during the Saturday evening performance of “The Boardinghouse” by the Wolf Creek Players. Also pictured, l-r, Jeremy Hartman (seated) as Dr. Sni-Fell, Sandi Hulst as Harriet, and Jana Ryan as Tweenie. Photo by Soren M. Peterson

The production also featured entertaining performances from Pat Arp, Reta Callahan, Jeremy Hartman, Ruth Laackmann in a debut performance, Missie Purdy, and Jennifer Reese.

Brayden Ryan — a freshman at Union High School, the son of fellow cast member Jana Ryan and younger brother of fellow cast member Christian Ryan — quite possibly stole the show with his physical comedy, antics, and overplaying of the part of Mr. Richards to dramatic, silly effect.

At one point, Ryan’s Mr. Richards had pretended to faint — again — leading the cast to step back and forth over — and even on — him, eliciting laughter from the audience.

Hulst’s portrayal of Harriet proved to be a good foil for Ryan’s Mr. Richards — the two actors were consistently in-scene together creating many standout moments.

As Harriet became more and more exasperated with her boarding house resident Mr. Richards, Hulst would bang Ryan’s character on the head with a rolled up newspaper — repeatedly and much to the audience’s delight.

Reta Callahan (right) in character as the eccentric, free-spirited Ivy dabs paint onto Sandi Hulst’s cheek during the Wolf Creek Players’ Saturday evening performance of “The Boardinghouse” in the Union Middle School auditorium in Dysart. Photo by Soren M. Peterson

Jana Ryan’s portrayal of Tweenie also led to multiple moments of audience laughter which was fitting in light of Jana celebrating ten years with the community theater group in tandem with the 10th anniversary — according to Koster, Jana has been in all but four of Wolf Creek Players’ 20 productions.

A few times during the Saturday evening performance, several of the actors were clearly breaking character briefly with each other due to momentarily forgetting a line or while waiting for another character’s performance to begin or just because the script was ridiculous at times — this humanization of the cast appeared to make for an even more intimate, enjoyable community theater performance for the audience.

Although Kloster would have liked to see a few more tickets sold across all performances — the first three performances averaged 30 people — she’s enthusiastic for the future now that Wolf Creek Players has returned to the stage.

As part of the tenth anniversary, Wolf Creek Players is selling blue t-shirts featuring the titles of many of their performances over the years.

The nonprofit is completely dependent on fundraising to stay afloat, Kloster said, selling T-shirts is just one of the ways she’s hoping to keep community theater in Dysart.

Union High School freshman Brayden Ryan (second from right) camps it up on stage as the melodramatic Mr. Richards during the Saturday evening performance of “The Boardinghouse” by the Wolf Creek Players. Also pictured, l-r, Jeremy Hartman (seated) as Dr. Sni-Fell, Sandi Hulst as Harriet, and Jana Ryan as Tweenie. Photo by Soren M. Peterson

“I come up with unique ways[to fundraise]. We’ve auctioned pies off during the play, we’ve had a cornhole tournament, farmers market meals …”

Those who wish to support the Wolf Creek Players mission can purchase a t-shirt soon via their website http://www.TamaCountyIowa.org/WolfCreekPlayers or by contacting Koster by email wolfcreekplayers2009@gmail.com.

The next Wolf Creek Players production — “Monsters in the Closet” — will take place in the spring of 2022 and will include child actors, Kloster said. Watch for read-through/audition announcements on the Wolf Creek Players’ Facebook page.

Photo by Soren M. Peterson

A collection of all 20 productions staged by the Wolf Creek Players over the last 10 years was on display in the Union Middle School cafeteria ahead of the community theater group’s Saturday evening staging of “The Boardinghouse.” Photo by Soren M. Peterson

It was a family affair this past weekend during the Wolf Creek Players’ production of “The Boardinghouse.” Pictured, l-r, cast members Jana Ryan and her sons Brayden and Christian Ryan alongside Jana’s mother and Brayden and Christian’s grandmother, Director Deb Kloster, following the Saturday evening staging. Photo by Soren M. Peterson

WOLFCRK8: The Wolf Creek Players current t-shirt design features titles from ten years worth of past productions by the community theater group. Sales of the t-shirts will benefit the non-profit group’s mission to provide community theater in the Dysart area. Refer to the Wolf Creek Players’ website and Facebook page for information on purchasing a shirt. Photo by Soren M. Peterson