Written by Mary Chase
Directed by Kris Lineberger
Fridays and Saturdays
May 27 - June 11, 2022
At 7:30PM
“The loveable life and laughable time of Elwood P Dowd and his invisible associate.”
Elwood P. Dowd insists on including his friend Harvey in all of his sister Veta’s social gatherings. Trouble is, Harvey is an imaginary six-foot-tall rabbit. To avoid future embarrassment for her family—and especially for her daughter, Myrtle Mae—Veta decides to have Elwood committed to a sanitarium. At the sanitarium, a frantic Veta explains to the staff that her years of living with Elwood’s hallucination have caused her to see Harvey also, and so the doctors mistakenly commit her instead of her mild-mannered brother.
The truth comes out, however; Veta is freed, and the search is on for Elwood, who eventually arrives at the sanitarium of his own volition, looking for Harvey. But it seems that Elwood and his invisible companion have had a strange influence on more than one of the doctors. Only at the end does Veta realize that maybe Harvey isn’t so bad after all.
Production Staff
Kris Lineberger
Rod Oden
About the Director Kris Lineberger
Kris has been participating in theater since high school. She has appeared in numerous productions over the years in and around the Metrolina theater region, including BLITHE SPIRIT (Mrs. Bradman) and NIGHTFALL WITH EDGAR ALLAN POE (Raven, Poe, Police) at Lee Street Theatre. She began cultivating her directing skills about 8 years ago and most recently directed 2 skits in the 4th Annual Boos & Brews at Davidson Community Players. Other directed shows include: PETER AND THE STARCATCHER; OUTSIDE THE WIRE; DON’T CRY FOR ME, MARGARET MITCHELL; SLEUTH; FIRST DATE; Ken Ludwig’s SHAKESPEARE IN HOLLYWOOD and ’TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS; AN INSPECTOR CALLS. She is excited about the opportunity to bring all “six foot three and a half inches” of this iconic, warm-hearted play to life on stage!
About the Author Mary Chase
Mary Coyle Chase was born on February 25, 1907, in Denver, Colorado. Her parents, Frank and Mary (McDonough) Coyle, were both Irish-born and emigrated to the United States at the end of the nineteenth century. At the age of fourteen, Mary got a place at the University of Denver, where she studied for two-and-a-half years, and then, in 1923, she transferred to the University of Colorado for a further year, but she graduated from neither. With no specific qualifications other than an interest in writing, she became a reporter for various local newspapers in 1924 and went on to join "The Rocky Mountain News" in June 1928. That same year, she married Robert Lamont Chase whom she had met on the paper. Four years later, Mary decided to give up her newspaper job, but continued to do freelance journalistic work for the International News Service and the United Press. She also began to write short stories and plays, as well as a radio programs for the Teamsters’ Union. Her first play to be professionally staged was ME THIRD (written in 1936), which was produced by the Federal Theatre Project, first in Denver and then the following year in New York, directed by Brock Pemberton under the title NOW I’VE DONE IT.