Beth Campbell, Brad Bebout, and Daniel Bradshaw find it hard to keep a straight face during Harvey rehearsals. Photo provided by Marion Palace Theatre.
The Marion Palace Theatre will stage the Pulitzer prize-winning play “Harvey” for three performances in the Palace Theatre May Pavilion. It has been almost three years since the Palace presented a stage play in the May Pavilion.
Executive Director, Bev Ford says she is thrilled to bring back this slightly different style of entertainment for theatre-goers.
“At the Palace, we strive to offer a wide variety of entertainment every season to our patrons. When we begin programming, we take into account the requests we received from patrons from the previous year. We heard from numerous patrons they wanted to see more non-musical stage plays. We listened, and we are happy to bring “Harvey” to the May Pavilion.”
Show dates are scheduled for September 20 and 21 at 8:00 p.m. and September 22 at 2:00 p.m. Tickets are $20 general admission. “Harvey” is recommended for ages 12 years and up.
“Harvey” is a lighthearted comedy set in the year 1944 and features Elwood P. Dowd and his best friend — a mischievous six-and-a-half foot invisible rabbit named Harvey. “Harvey” has been adapted for film and television several times, most notably in a 1950 film starring Jimmy Stewart. In 2012, a Broadway revival of the play opened at Studio 54 in New York directed by Scott Ellis and starred Jim Parsons (The Big Bang Theory) as Elwood.
The Marion Palace Theatre production cast includes Brad Bebout as the charming Elwood P. Dowd. He is a friendly eccentric whose best friend is an invisible six-and-a-half foot tall white rabbit named Harvey. Trena Craig plays Elwood’s sister Veta Louise Simmons. Veta is a comic character who is almost as unstable, in her own way as her brother. Ashley Horton will portray Myrtle Mae Simmons, the daughter of Veta who is desperate to find a man to marry.
Will Smith plays Dr. William B. Chumley, an esteemed psychiatrist who is also a difficult man, feared by his subordinates. Daniel Bradshaw will portray Dr. Lyman Sanderson, Dr. Chumley’s young assistant psychiatrist. Beth Campbell plays Nurse Ruth Kelly, a pretty young woman who works in the psychiatric sanitarium and has a love/hate relationship with Dr. Sanderson. John W Garnes II is cast as Duane Wilson, a devoted orderly at the sanitarium who is responsible for handling the patients who will not cooperate voluntarily. Diana Dailey plays Dr. Chumley’s wife Betty. She is more concerned with socializing than with science: when 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.”
Dean Jacob portrays Judge Omar Gaffney, an old family friend of the Dowds. The Judge thinks nothing of seeing Elwood talking to his invisible friend Harvey. Bobbi Wilds plays Ethel Chauvenet, also an old friend of the family and leader of the town’s social circle. David Bell plays the insightful cab driver E. J. Lofgren and Colleen Miller is cast as Miss Johnson, the Dowd’s maid.
The Marion Palace Theatre production will be directed by Greg Patterson. Barb Yaksic is the assistant to Patterson. Marion Community Foundation’s Mary H. Hollaway Palace Theatre Fund and Ohio Arts Council co-sponsor this production.
Tickets can be purchased by phone at (740) 383-2101 or online at www.marionpalace.org. They can also be purchased at the Marion Palace Theatre, 276 West Center Street. Box Office hours are 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday and one hour before each performance. The box office is closed Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday.
Show information and tickets are also online at www.marionpalace.org.
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