Huron Valley Community Theatre is a non-profit amateur theatre company associated with the Huron Valley School District. Our purpose is to present quality, live theatre to the Huron Valley Community, and to provide a welcoming place for all those who would like to be a part of the excitement of community theatre.

 

HVCT was formed in 1976 as a part of Huron Valley Schools Continuing Education department. The first production (as best the present members can recall!) was A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, which took place in the newly opened Lakeland High School Theatre. Lakeland High School drama teachers, the Johnstons, were the early movers and shakers of the group.

 

Since then, hundreds of community members have taken part in dozens of productions, including Pippin, Sweet Charity, Carousel, Camelot, The Music Man, The Wizard of Oz, 1776, Chess, and Annie Get Your Gun. Later seasons also brought several children's shows, including Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, Charlotte's Web, Tom Sawyer, and Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.

 

After a summer 1996 production of Pirates of Penzance had to be cancelled, HVCT did not produce another show for ten years. In 2006, Linda Foran (formerly Linda Armstrong) and a small group of others renewed the group with a production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves in the Center for the Performing Arts at Milford High School. This was followed in 2007 with a production of Charlotte's Web directed by Tom O'Brien; Tom Sawyer directed by Doug Marquis in 2008; and Bee-Switched, an original show written and directed by Linda Foran and Nancy Branstetter, in 2009.

 

Summer 2012 saw the reintroduction of a regular HVCT season, beginning with a production of Rogers' & Hammerstein's The Sound of Music directed by Jason Pratt, and followed by Steel Magnolias directed by Michelle White, the "Jukebox Uncovered" fundraiser at the Huron Valley Council for the Arts, Sleeping Beauty directed by Linda Foran and Nancy Branstetter, a summer Children's Theatre camp, and another summer production of Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods directed by Michelle White.

 

Our 2013-2014 season emphasized family productions, including The Beast Christmas Pageant Ever (directed by Becky Hogaboom), Disney's The Jungle Book Kids (directed by Doug Marquis), and You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown (directed by Linda Foran).

 

The 2014-2015 HVCT season began with the "There's No Business Like Show Business" cabaret fundraiser at the Huron Valley Council for the Arts, and then featured productions of Luann: Scenes in a Teen's Life directed by Becky Hogaboom; a new production of Bee-Switched, written and directed by Linda Foran and Nancy Branstetter; and a summer 2015 production of Love, Loss, and What I Wore, directed by Megan Weeks and performed in the gazebo in downtown Milford and at the Suzanne Haskew Arts Center.

 

Fall 2015 saw productions of Really Rosie, directed by Doug Marquis, and A Christmas Carol, directed by Linda Foran. Becky Hogaboom directed our dinner theatre production of Dinner at Eight, Dead by Nine at Beacon Hills Country Club in January 2016 and also directed our June mainstage production of Golly Gee Whiz and Two Fronts, dedicated to all of our local veterans.

 

The 2016-2017 season featured two shows produced in the Milford High School Little Theatre, with Linda Foran directing A Charlie Brown Christmas, and Linda Foran and Loraine Foster directing the May production of Nunsense!

 

In the Little Theatre for fall 2017, Doug Marquis directed a children's theatre production of Tarradiddle Tales and Linda Foran & Nancy Branstetter directed our holiday production of Elf, Jr. Becky Hogaboom directed our production of the Cole Porter classic, Anything Goes! on the Milford High School Center for the Performing Arts mainstage in summer 2018.

 

Fall of 2018 saw our first all-HVS middle school production of The Lion King, Jr., directed by Linda Foran and Kris Born, followed by the Holly Jolly Holiday a holiday fundraiser for Community Sharing. Winter and fall of 2019 will bring productions of Love Letters, directed by Chris White for performance at the Huron Valley Council for the Arts, and Mamma Mia! directed in the Little Theatre by Linda Foran.

 

Let's keep the energy going! If you are a former member who would like to become involved again or can fill in some details of the history for us, we would like to hear from you! Likewise, if you've never been involved in live theatre but would like to learn the ropes (maybe even literally!), please join us!