HURON — The Huron Community Theatre (HCT) will present, “Let Him Sleep ’til it’s Time for His Funeral,” a comedy production by Peg Kehret.
The play will be presented at 7 p.m. nightly Thursday, July 19, through Saturday, July 21, as well as at 2 p.m. on both July 21 and 22, at Huron Community Campus, 939 Ohio Ave. S.W.
Annette Bowen and Leo Jensen are co-directing the play for the second year in a row, with an enthusiastic and experienced cast, eager to be on stage and entertain the public.
“Leo and I co-directed a play last year, which we both were in, I have acted in three plays previously but this year I’m not acting,” said Anette Bowen. “Jensen will be in this year’s play, while co-directing with me.”
Jensen has always been passionate about the arts in all forms, after studying music and being active in the HCT. He will be performing in this years’ production, while sharing the different roles and work that goes into directing with Bowen.
“Bowen and I work well with sharing our responsibilities as co-directors,” Jensen said. “This is the third play I’ve co-directed and acted in eight for HCT.”
The cast have been hard at work practicing for months, they are now excited and ready to make the community laugh with a convulsively funny comedy, about a man called “John” who seems to have a bit of bad luck and anxiety about turning 50 years old.
A surprise birthday party hosted by the wife of John, turns into a surprise funeral instead, with good intentions to show how much he is loved but those in his life. The production is said to be “a delightful mess resolved in a hurricane of enjoyable hilarity.”

As a new director, this being the second year of experience, Bowen has enjoyed working with an experienced cast that are all passionate about performing.  
“It’s been going really well. We always a few bumps here and there, but it is going well, we have a good experienced cast, which always helps me,” Bowen said. “Our cast is from De Smet, Bryant, Huron and Alpena, three of our cast drive over 40 miles just to get here for practice, so we probably put in over 1,000 hours of volunteer work for all of us to put the show together,” Bowen and Jensen explained. “The cast is very spread out throughout the region.”
All the cast in this year’s show have acted before; however, there are three new members to the HCT, Stephanie Sauder, Kurt Dean and Katrina Baltzer, plus existing Huron actors, Jensen, Kristy Hubbard and Jim Thomas.
Cast member Sauder from Bryant travels to Huron for each practice with two other members performing in the play, “It’s not so bad getting here because I ride with Kristy and Jim, so I don’t have to go by myself all the time. It’s been three nights a week of practice up until these past couple weeks; we have been practicing every night,” Sauder said.
Sauder is new to the HCT, this being her first performance in Huron; however, has been involved with community theatre for some time, and a teacher of many subjects including business, sociology, psychology, accounting and more.
“This is my first opportunity to be with the HCT. Kristy called me and said, ‘Hey we’ve got a part if you want it.’ I asked if I had to audition and she said, ‘No, you got the part,’” Sauder said. “I was a teacher for 30 years and for almost 10 years of that time I was a play directer in a couple of schools. Then I also worked with local Bryant Community Theatre. I really like being involved. It’s always fun and important to have in our small communities because people really enjoy then. And it’s fun to see somebody you see on the street up on the stage, letting themselves be out there in a different role. No pun intended,” she added jokingly. “It has been interesting getting to know these guys, I actually used to teach with Leo and I didn’t know he was in the play until I arrived, so that’s been fun to reunite with him.”
Hubbard has been on the board and active with the HCT for more than ten years. As is excited as always to be acting in another show.
“Our board is volunteers and we gladly welcome new people if anyone is interested. Our biggest struggle is finding new directors so we are always looking for people to join,” Hubbard said. “I’ve been in plays since grade school, the bug hit me early. I had great directors in college. I took a little break when I had kids and when they got old enough, I became involved again. Currently I am involved in the HCT and the De Smet Community Theatre.”
Hubbard is the director for the Event and Wellness Center in De Smet, where she currently lives.
“What I enjoy about being on stage is the chance to be somebody I’m not normally and working with different casts that we have for different shows. It becomes likes a family for that time and everybody always misses each other when the show is done,” Hubbard explained. “It’s an amazing thing that small communities like De Smet and Huron can have community theatre and I really hope that everybody appreciates all the hard work that goes into putting a show together. When I was growing up there was no community theatre and I didn’t get the chance to watch people on stage unless I went out of town, so this is a really big deal to me to have.”
The HCT has struggled in recent years to find new directors, which has made it difficult to present as many shows as they have done in previous years.
“I’ve been involved with the HCT for seven years. I always feel that any live theatre is good, the community needs it. I mostly helped as a stage manager for previous years before I decided to direct last year. I would love to find more directors that would become involved in the HCT,” Bowen explained. “The amount of volunteer hours and time that goes into a play can be challenging for people to commit, which we appreciate those who do commit because it’s so nice to have live theatre.”
Those in the community and surrounding regions interested in live theatre is always welcome to contact the HCT to see what help can be offered.
“We were involved in the Center for Independence plays for a few years too,” Bowen and Jensen explained. “We also used to have a play each season of the year, but we have lost that in the last two years because we can’t find directors for the HCT. That’s why we are directing; we want to keep the theatre going.”
Tickets are available at Jensen Livestock, the De Smet Event Center and can also be purchased at the door of the Community Campus. For more information about the show or to become involved, search Huron Area Community on Facebook, to contact a HCT member.