Finding Home

Over the past three years, audiences have grown to know and love young Moira, the title character of a trilogy of plays written and produced by former North Idaho College theater director and playwright Tim Rarick.

The final part in the series will premiere this month.

"The plays follow the events in the early life of my mother, Mary, who struggled through the economic depression of the 1930s in the care of nuns in Spokane and Coeur d'Alene," Rarick said.

"This Child" was the first play presented in 2006 and 2007, which focused on Mary, or "Moira," as a 6-year-old girl struggling with the loss of her father and the poor mental health of her mother. Sisters at Our Lady of Lourdes in Spokane convinced Moira's mother to allow them to include the child in a school play as a way of attending to her welfare without embarrassing her mother.

"Moira's Crossing," staged in 2008, picked up the story of Mary, who remained in the care of the sisters at Our Lady of Lourdes and is 12 years old. She acts out her perceived abandonment by her family and finds herself in trouble both in school and with authorities. She is then transferred from Spokane to a Catholic boarding school in Coeur d'Alene by a young Catholic priest who wins her trust and effects positive change in her life.

The final play in the three-part series, "Finding Home," focuses on a now 18-year-old Mary who faces the decision of what to do after graduation from the Coeur d'Alene boarding school. In this play, her desire to join a convent and become a nun is complicated by her attraction to a longtime friend and classmate.

"Finding Home" will be presented at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 18-20 and Feb. 25-27 in NIC's Boswell Hall Schuler Performing Arts Center.

The 25-member cast is a mix of North Idaho College students and former students, community members and several actors from outlying cities. Former NIC theater student Loretta Underwood of Wallace plays Mary, the lead role in the play.

NIC Theater Director Joe Jacoby is the producer and sound designer. Other production designers include NIC Boswell Schuler Performing Arts Center staff set designer Justin Van Eaton, lighting designer John Gallegos, costume designer Judith McGiveney, visual image designer Tyler Hughes and properties designer Patty Baker. Tim Rarick will direct, Rebecca McNeill is the assistant director and Lenny Speer is the stage manager.

"Audiences will get a glimpse of life as it used to be in Coeur d'Alene," said NIC Theater Director and show producer Joe Jacoby.

The play is free and open to the public. Children younger than 5 are discouraged.

Information: (208) 769-3220