Pamela Klifar was looking for a few good nuns.

But when auditions for “Nunsense” rolled around, the turnout was sparse. “We had five or six at auditions, but they are perfect for each role,” the director said as the musical comedy prepared to open. “It has been delightful.”

“Nunsense” will be staged by the Peninsula Players at the River City Playhouse in Ilwaco, opening at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Additional evening shows are on March 15, March 16, March 22 and March 23, while matinees are at 2 p.m. Sunday, March 17 and March 24.

“It is my very favorite small-cast show,” said Klifar, who counts five prior productions, once onstage and four directing the action or the music or both. “These ladies are a joy.”

“Nunsense” author Dan Goggin began the project in the early 1980s by writing greeting cards that featured nuns and comic sayings. The concept expanded into a cabaret act then a long-running Broadway musical featuring Phyllis Diller, Sally Struthers and Honor Blackman.

Its popularity spawned six sequels. One, “Meshuggah-Nuns!” will be staged at the Coaster Theatre in Cannon Beach from June 28 to Sept. 1.

“Nunsense” tells the story of an order of nuns whose members left behind dreams like ballet dancing or becoming a country Western star. They draw on these past talents to stage a variety show to raise funds for an urgent financial need.

Songs include “Nunsense is Habit-Forming,” “Growing Up Catholic” and “Holier Than Thou.”

Longtime Peninsula Players actors Rita Smith and Bette Lu Krause appear as the convent leaders, Ann Erickson plays a streetwise nun, Denise Cox is a novice and Carea Kuhn plays the childlike Sister Mary Amnesia, who manipulates a puppet called Mary Annette which behaves appallingly. “I am clueless and she is crass — not at all as a nun should be,” Kuhn said.

Completing the cast are Jerr Harding, as Father Jerr, and the accompanist, Ferrell Hornsby, who performs at the keyboard wearing a nun’s habit.

Participating delights Erickson, who performed in a version about 20 years ago at Clatsop Community College.

“It is the finest show I have ever done,” she said. “I was in ‘Something Afoot,’ when I was eaten by an urn, but this is so much fun. I have liked meeting everybody — it is a funny show.”

‘Nunsense’

‘Nunsense’

A musical comedy by Peninsula Players, written by Dan Goggin and directed by Pamela Klifar

Opening 7 p.m. Friday at River City Playhouse, 127 Lake St., Ilwaco, additional shows are at 7 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays through March 24

Tickets are $20 from three Washington locations, Okie’s Thriftway Market in Ocean Park, BOLD Coffee, Art and Framing in Long Beach and Olde Towne Trading Post in Ilwaco, by phone at 360-244-3517 and at the door 30 minutes before showtimes