Funeral comedy takes stage Friday at WiLLow LeaVes of Hope

Age is just a number, but the cliché is easier said than believed when a mid-life crisis hits.

This Friday “Let Him Sleep ‘Til It’s Time for His Funeral” will debut at WILLow LeaVes of Hope at 7 p.m. Presented by the Actors’ Studio of Hope, the light-hearted comedy definitely offers something out of the ordinary.

“It is a bit of an unknown comedy play,” says Naomi Fleetwood-Pyle, producer and co-director. “No one around here has done this play. This one is funny in the chain of events that go on and it is more of a light-hearted comedy with little bitty subplots.”

Written by Peg Kehret, the two hour-long play is described as a “delightful mess” that is “amazingly resolved in a hurricane of hilarity” according to its distributor Pioneer Drama Service.

For the main character, John, age 50 packs a serious punch. Anxious and depressed about his half-century anniversary, John is very open about his feelings and, in an attempt to make him feel better, his wife, Marianne, plans the ultimate surprise for him while he is away on a fishing trip.

“His wife gets this wild idea to throw him a funeral for his birthday party because people always go to funerals,” Fleetwood-Pyle says. “They will not come to visit you, but they always come to the funeral.”

However, when John catches wind about the funeral and starts to find hints and clues he makes assumptions and things begin to unravel.

The six-member cast shows how things can go a bit haywire when misunderstandings begin to pile up and everyone ends up on different pages.

“The take home message is enjoy life while you are on this earth,” Fleetwood-Pyle says. “You never know when you’re going to die. Eventually all is well that ends well.”

Pete Law, who plays John’s friend Russ, says this play definitely stands out from the other comedies the Actors’ Studio has offered at WILLow LeaVes.

“It is a lot different than the other comedies we have done in that the misunderstandings offer the comedic fodder,” he says.

Although his character is in his 50s, Law says he has still learned a little something from him.

“You have to keep living,” Law says. “You have to keep on truckin’.”

Due to an encore performance of the hit play “Savannah Sipping Society” last month, the turnaround time for this play was cut short, Fleetwood-Pyle says.

“Usually we allow a six-week time frame, but because we did an encore of ‘The Savannah Sipping Society’ we had about five weeks of rehearsal,” she says. “The turnaround time has been really fast.”

But even a quick turnaround was nothing for the experienced cast who mesh together really well and get to work as soon as they arrive to rehearsal, Law says.

Law says he has great hopes for “Let Him Sleep ‘Til It’s Time for His Funeral.”

“I hope the audience takes away the message that age is just a number and it shouldn’t define who you are,” he says.