The Kenworthy Performing Arts Centre’s mission statement is, “to be Moscow’s premier historic, downtown, community performing arts venue and cinematic art house dedicated to hosting and providing high quality arts experiences to residents of and visitors to the Palouse Region,” according to their website.
But Christine Gilmore, summed it up into a few words: “The Kenworthy is a space and place for all.”
When she took her first steps into the Kenworthy, she felt she could run the place one day — though Gilmore views that as a bit arrogant now — she was moved by the Kenworthy as it reminded her of a hometown theater.
And she wasn’t wrong — she is now the Executive Director of the Kenworthy.
But before Gilmore started working at the Kenworthy, a reggae performance was held and the transformer for the street block blew broke causing them to close down for a week.
“Kenworthy renovations to ‘Make sure it’s here for years to come’”
While most may think this was just a technical issue, Gilmore quickly learned it was one of the two ghosts who lives in the Kenworthy. That ghost is known for his hatred of reggae music — knowing this information they have not had any reggae shows since.
“Every time we have had a little bit of, you know, Rasta here or there, something has inexplicably broken,” Gilmore said.
The other ghost is referred to by Gilmore as her “little poltergeist,” and lives near the lobby or balcony area and does not adapt well to change.
“Anytime I hire a new person something breaks, at first you’re like, ‘Oh it’s just a coincidence’ but after being here for eight years something has always broken once we hire a new person,” Gilmore said.
Jamie Hill, operations director, believes the ‘little poltergeist’ is trying to keep an eye on things and just wants everyone to not forget about her.
“Sometimes it’s very comforting if I’m here late at night all of sudden I feel (like), ‘Oh, I’m fine,’” Gilmore said.
In the past the Kenworthy has had staff members who did not believe in ghosts. Gilmore believes the ghosts will not show themselves to non-believers.
“We had an actor here who had keys to building and he was doing a run through of his one-man show on stage he had all the lights on at 11:30 at night, he felt like he kept seeing something,” Hill said. “He finished, and sure actors want to hear all the applause, but he was convinced that he heard really faint applause.”
Though a ghost might not seem like the ideal resident, it is a well-known good luck charm in the theater community to have a ghost around.
Hill started working at the Kenworthy in 2013 as a popcorn scooper and has worked her way up to operations director.
After graduating from UI, Hill went to graduate school where she worked at a Regal Cinema and fell in love with film. Though she came back to Moscow for a different job, Hill figured she might as well apply at the Kenworthy — and has worked there ever since.
“Hands down my favorite thing is the people — we have a very solid community in Moscow specifically but even tighter the Kenworthy has quite its own crowd,” Hill said. “We have a set group of people who always come to Sunday movies, that is its own crowd but that doesn’t mean new random people can’t show up and if they do they’re immediately part of the crowd. It’s this ever-changing, morphing and growing group of individuals and that what makes the Kenworthy work.”
Alex Brizee can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @alex_brizee