A comedy by Mary Chase
******************************************
***********************************************************************
CAST LIST
Sohie Wieland as Ethel Chauvenet
- an old friend of the family. She is a member of the town’s social circle, which Veta wants Myrtle to break into, and so they both flatter her and curry her favor.
Callie Levell as Betty Chumley (the doctor's wife)
- more concerned with socializing than with science: told that her husband has to examine a patient, she tells him, “Give a little quick diagnosis, Willie — we don’t want to be late to the party.”
Dominic Meyers as William B. Chumley
- an esteemed psychiatrist and the head of the sanitarium, “Chumley’s Rest,” to which Veta has Elwood taken. He is a difficult, exacting man, feared by his subordinates, unwilling to tolerate his mistakes.
Briggs Tople as Elwood P. Dowd
- the central character of the play, a friendly eccentric who spends his days and nights in the taverns of his unnamed town. Elwood’s best friend is Harvey, an invisible six and a half-foot-tall rabbit. The play leaves open several possibilities regarding exactly what Harvey is, whether he is a figment of Elwood’s imagination, as the psychiatrists would like to believe, or he is, as Elwood asserts, a supernatural being known as a Pooka.
Julia Friedrichsen as Judge Olga Gaffney
- an old family friend of the Dowds, a representative of the people in town who are accustomed to seeing Elwood talking to Harvey and who do not think anything of it.
Tiffany Schilling as Miss Johnson
- listed in the Cast of Characters as “a cateress,” but her dialog in the play is tagged “Maid.” She only appears briefly in the first act: when Veta asks if she has seen the guest list, she says, “No, I haven’t Mrs. Simmons,” and leaves promptly.
Claire Vetter as Nurse Ruth Kelly
- a sympathetic character, a pretty young woman who appears to have some sort of love/hate relationship with Dr. Sanderson.
Hannah Hovel as E.J. Lofgren
- the cab driver who makes Veta realize that the treatment that is supposed to make Elwood stop seeing Harvey might drain him of his kind personality.
Gage Gooding as Dr. Lyman Sanderson
- young, for a psychiatrist, but very qualified — Dr. Chumley has picked him out of the twelve possible assistants that he tried. He is just as infatuated with Nurse Kelly as she is with him, but he only reveals his concern indirectly.
Natalie Bollinger as Myrtle Mae
- a young woman, the daughter of Veta. The main reason why she and her mother are concerned about their standing in the community is that they both are concerned that Myrtle find a man to marry.
Gabbie Brandt as Elwood’s sister, Veta Louise Simmons,
- an important character in this play because she joins the play’s two opposing forces, logic and imagination.
Tavis Becker as Duane Wilson
- the muscle of Chumley’s Rest, a devoted orderly responsible for handling the patients who will not cooperate voluntarily.
Symmone Gauer as Mrs. Cummings
- A member of the Wednesday Forum who is attending a tea at the home of Veta Louise Simmons when she is introduced to Harvey, causing her to leave immediately.
Deryn Lewis as Mrs Halsey
- Another member of the Wednesday Forum who leaves in disgust as Elwood introduces Harvey to the ladies .
- an old friend of the family. She is a member of the town’s social circle, which Veta wants Myrtle to break into, and so they both flatter her and curry her favor.
Callie Levell as Betty Chumley (the doctor's wife)
- more concerned with socializing than with science: told that her husband has to examine a patient, she tells him, “Give a little quick diagnosis, Willie — we don’t want to be late to the party.”
Dominic Meyers as William B. Chumley
- an esteemed psychiatrist and the head of the sanitarium, “Chumley’s Rest,” to which Veta has Elwood taken. He is a difficult, exacting man, feared by his subordinates, unwilling to tolerate his mistakes.
Briggs Tople as Elwood P. Dowd
- the central character of the play, a friendly eccentric who spends his days and nights in the taverns of his unnamed town. Elwood’s best friend is Harvey, an invisible six and a half-foot-tall rabbit. The play leaves open several possibilities regarding exactly what Harvey is, whether he is a figment of Elwood’s imagination, as the psychiatrists would like to believe, or he is, as Elwood asserts, a supernatural being known as a Pooka.
Julia Friedrichsen as Judge Olga Gaffney
- an old family friend of the Dowds, a representative of the people in town who are accustomed to seeing Elwood talking to Harvey and who do not think anything of it.
Tiffany Schilling as Miss Johnson
- listed in the Cast of Characters as “a cateress,” but her dialog in the play is tagged “Maid.” She only appears briefly in the first act: when Veta asks if she has seen the guest list, she says, “No, I haven’t Mrs. Simmons,” and leaves promptly.
Claire Vetter as Nurse Ruth Kelly
- a sympathetic character, a pretty young woman who appears to have some sort of love/hate relationship with Dr. Sanderson.
Hannah Hovel as E.J. Lofgren
- the cab driver who makes Veta realize that the treatment that is supposed to make Elwood stop seeing Harvey might drain him of his kind personality.
Gage Gooding as Dr. Lyman Sanderson
- young, for a psychiatrist, but very qualified — Dr. Chumley has picked him out of the twelve possible assistants that he tried. He is just as infatuated with Nurse Kelly as she is with him, but he only reveals his concern indirectly.
Natalie Bollinger as Myrtle Mae
- a young woman, the daughter of Veta. The main reason why she and her mother are concerned about their standing in the community is that they both are concerned that Myrtle find a man to marry.
Gabbie Brandt as Elwood’s sister, Veta Louise Simmons,
- an important character in this play because she joins the play’s two opposing forces, logic and imagination.
Tavis Becker as Duane Wilson
- the muscle of Chumley’s Rest, a devoted orderly responsible for handling the patients who will not cooperate voluntarily.
Symmone Gauer as Mrs. Cummings
- A member of the Wednesday Forum who is attending a tea at the home of Veta Louise Simmons when she is introduced to Harvey, causing her to leave immediately.
Deryn Lewis as Mrs Halsey
- Another member of the Wednesday Forum who leaves in disgust as Elwood introduces Harvey to the ladies .
The Story
It is a spring afternoon at the Dowd family home, and a tea for the high-society ladies of the Wednesday Forum is in full swing. The hostess, Veta Louise Simmons, is hoping that the event will allow her daughter, Myrtle Mae, now in her twenties and still unmarried, to mingle with the mothers and grandmothers of some of the town's remaining eligible bachelors. However, to Veta's horror, her brother, Elwood P. Dowd, arrives home unexpectedly and in the company of his closest friend, Harvey, a six foot one-and-a-half inch tall white rabbit—a friend nobody else can see. Veta and Myrtle Mae are mortified as Elwood who, ever pleasant and polite, begins introducing his companion to the ladies of the Wednesday Forum. The embarrassing family secret is now exposed, and all that Veta and Myrtle Mae can do is watch helplessly as their guests flee the house.
In spite of the fact that they are living in Elwood's house and being supported by his money, Veta and Myrtle Mae vow that this is the last time they will be humiliated by his eccentric behavior. They determine that the only solution is to commit Elwood to Chumley's Rest, a sanitarium. Later that afternoon, they arrive by cab with Elwood at the sanitarium. Elwood is hustled away by Wilson, the sanitarium orderly. In the office, Veta meets with Dr. Sanderson and attempts to explain the situation of her brother and his invisible rabbit companion.
Veta's agitated state of mind, however, leads Dr. Sanderson to the conclusion that a terrible mistake has been made and that it is she, not her brother, who is the one in need of treatment—so he releases Elwood and sends Veta off to the hydro-therapy tub.
In an ensuing conversation between Dr. Sanderson and his superior, Dr. Chumley, it gradually becomes clear that yet another mistake has been made. It is indeed Elwood, not Veta, who was to have been committed. Veta, having suffered many indignities, is thus released, and the hunt for Elwood is on.
In the ensuing confusion, the doctors, Veta, and Elwood all try to figure out who is really crazy—no one, everyone, Elwood, Veta, or the doctors themselves? What, afterall, as the cab driver says, is "a perfectly normal human being"? Of course, it all gets sorted out in the end, but there are many surprises (as well as comic doses of wisdom) along the way, as everyone questions just what exactly is real.