Maybe some of you have that one friend that no one else seems to understand. No matter how many introductions you make to a variety of different people, your other friends just don’t seem to “get” this person. That’s the case with poor Elwood P. Dowd and his dear friend that no one seems to see. Director Jill Stapleton Bergeron introduces us to this unlucky friend in Theatre Knoxville Downtown’s production of Mary Chase’s 1953 play Harvey that keeps both actors and audiences on their toes and at their wit’s end.
Socialite Veta Louise Simmons (Sauni Rinehart) and her marriageable daughter Myrtle Mae Simmons (Jamie Paul) are in a bit of a pickle: their efforts to mingle with and host other fashionable women are thwarted by the arrival of Veta’s eccentric brother, Elwood P. Dowd (Kevin Teffeteller). While Elwood is a charming, affable character, he is also “the biggest screwball in town”—he insists on introducing everyone he meets to his best friend, Harvey, an invisible, six foot, one and one half inch tall white rabbit. Obviously, Veta’s well-to-do houseguests are disturbed, and Veta has had enough: she determines to have Elwood committed to Chumley’s Rest sanatorium, run by veteran psychiatrist William R. Chumley, M.D. (Dave Wasil) and the younger Lyman Sanderson, M.D. (Nicolas McClanahan). In a classic comedy of errors, Dr. Sanderson inadvertently admits Veta to Chumley’s Rest after she admits to seeing Harvey only once. The sanatorium staff allow Elwood to roam free in search of the missing Harvey, but once the mistake is discovered, the search for Elwood is on. Everyone’s sanity is at stake in this romping comedy about the limits of our imaginations and the capacity of our hearts.
Rinehart, Paul, and Teffeteller make up a hilarious little family that feels so close to our own—who doesn’t have that sibling, parent, or uncle who drives us nuts? Teffeteller lends Elwood a gentleness that seems endless—even if he might be crazy, he’s so harmless that Veta’s complaints seem almost selfish. While Rinehart’s Veta is stuffy and selfish in the first act, she deftly reveals in later acts the inner turmoil Veta suffers by dealing with Harvey, a figure so present in the family’s life that he has become very real. And Paul’s Myrtle Mae is chaotically sucked into the whirlwind, not knowing who or what to believe.
The doctors and staff at Chumley’s Rest are also kept on their toes. McClanahan is a strong-headed force as Dr. Sanderson, and his shifting rapport with Nurse Kelley (Sarah Templeton) makes for fun character development. Wasil’s Dr. Chumley is a little too Freudian for his own good, and one scene with Teffeteller in Act III feels very much like a psychotherapy session. Templeton’s Nurse Kelley shines as the frustrated voice of reason in the play, her professional (and accurate) opinion overlooked by her male supervisors and colleagues, while the buff orderly Duane Wilson (Aaron Hinds) nearly loses his wits from having to chase and wrangle the wrong “patient” multiple times. Chumley’s Rest staff engage in a wild goose chase (or white rabbit chase?) in their efforts to correct their mistaken diagnoses and reveal the truth about Harvey.
Minor roles in this production include Carol Goans as Mrs. Ethel Chauvenet, a socialite and friend of the Simmons; Deb Aisenbrey as Betty Chumley, Dr. Chumley’s wife; Mackenzie Bien as Miss Johnson, the Simmons’s housekeeper; Tim Reynolds as Judge Omar Gaffney, the Simmons’s lawyer; James A.C. West as E.J. Lofgren, the cab driver; Dalton Davis in two roles as Mr. Dunphy (staff at Chumley’s Rest) and Officer Welty; and Colby Russell Benjamin as a terrified potential buyer of the Dowd estate. Though their roles are minor, they contribute to the lighthearted fun of this production and deserve a shout-out.
Harvey runs until August 10 with showings on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 7:30pm and matinees on Sunday at 3pm. Tickets are available at their box office at 800 S. Central Street or online at https://theatreknoxville.com/harvey/.
