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Harvey, a play written in 1944 by Mary Chase and directed this May by Kristin Kerr ’11, is sure to bring audience members back to their childhoods of imagination and invisible friends.
When she was chosen last year for this spring’s student directing position, Kerr knew that a comedy as silly as Harvey would be a perfect choice. She explained, “The rest of this year’s theater season has, for the most part, been very dark and serious. Since the end of the year is already such a stressful time, it’s a nice change to direct a show that is light and fun.”
Logan Keeler ’11, who plays Elwood, has also enjoyed the comedic process and the relationship he is able to have with Harvey, the rabbit. He said that so far the show is “a lot of fun because it brings you back to childhood when you had invisible friends that you could talk to and interact with. At the same time, it’s challenging to see Harvey like Elwood does because I have to react to someone who’s not there.”
The play, which has also been made into a popular movie starring Jimmy Stewart, follows the antics of Elwood P. Dowd and his very real relationship with a 6’3.5” invisible rabbit named Harvey. Elwood’s antics and imagination begin to drive his sister Veta, (Liz Buxton ’13) and her daughter Myrtle Mae (Molly Shimko ’13) to insanity, as they all live in the same home.
A hilarious comedy of errors ensues when Veta attempts to commit Elwood to an insane asylum where they meet Dr. Chumley (Adam Berard ’11), Dr. Sanderson (Conor McCormick-Cavanagh ’14) and many others. The characters soon begin to question their own sanity and the existence of Harvey the rabbit.
Because Harvey is a student-directed production, the actors also have the experience of working on this show with a peer rather than an adult director. Kerr said, “I had to present myself differently from what I’m used to because I knew if I started off as ‘one of them’ it would never work out. It has become a strange balancing act of being both a friend and an authority figure.”
Grant Jacoby ’13, the show’s stage manager, has known Kerr through working with her on previous theater productions. He asserted that it is wonderful to have “friendship and comfort as a support system when jumping into the deep end of stage managing.”
Berard added, “The actor-director pairing adds a new dynamic to the relationship I have with Kristin, but she is a great director to work with.”
Explained Molly Clifford ’13, who makes her MainStage debut in Harvey as Betty Chumley, “The student-directing position is so important because it is one of the few opportunities that students have to direct and produce at Conn and it really allows them to flesh out their ideas about a show and put them into performance.”
Although Harvey is shaping up to be a funny and entertaining show, it does have the competition of Floralia on its performance weekend. When asked if he thought that Floralia would have any effect on the show, Berard laughed before saying, “It’s obviously a point of contention. We have struck up a deal with Kristin because she wants us to have a great time at Floralia but also do our best in our final performance the Sunday after. I fully expect to see her celebrating Floralia with us!”
Keeler added, “I was a little disappointed that the show was scheduled the way it was, but I knew of the conflict before auditioning and I love the show enough to balance well between the two.”
Despite the conflict with Floralia, the entire cast agrees that the show is more than worth seeing. Berard explained, “It’s an interesting play because it isn’t necessarily an ‘important’ play that tackles the big issues, but it does look at small town problems and social pressures, which are things we deal with all the time at Conn.” Keeler said, “It is a show that can be enjoyed by most everyone. It’s so funny because my character is supposed to be the insane one, but by the end everyone is so quirky that I’m the one that seems sane.” •
Harvey will be performed on May 4, 5 and 6 at 8 PM and May 8 at 2 PM in Tansill Theater.
