Renaissance Players present Harvey Aug. 23-Sept. 1

Release Date: 8/15/2002. Expired: 9/1/2002

Lovable town drunk Elwood P. Dowd has a best friend named Harvey. But the fact that Harvey is a 6-foot, 3-1/2-inch invisible rabbit causes great consternation for his socialite sister, Veta, who concludes that Elwood must be institutionalized to prevent any more embarrassment for the family.

The resulting series of misunderstandings and comic complications leave just about everybody questioning their sanity as the Renaissance Players present the classic play Harvey at The Renaissance Center Aug. 23-Sept. 1. Shows are 7 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays. Tickets are $10 for adults, $8 for seniors and $5 for children under 13.

Based on the novel by Mary Chase, Harvey also was a hit 1950 movie that earned Jimmy Stewart an Academy Award nomination for his portrayal of Elwood.

Harvey marks the first theatrical production at The Renaissance Center to have a director from the community. Texas transplant Pat Jurek, who made her debut on the center’s stage in The Odd Couple, directed more than 30 plays while working with a theatre company in Port Lavaca, Texas.

“The whole idea behind forming the Renaissance Players was to create a group of community people who are interested in working in the theatre, both on the stage and behind the scenes,” said Kim Leavitt, the center’s director of Theatre Education and Community Outreach. “We want to give people the chance to direct, make costumes, build sets, search for props, work as stagehands or technicians as well as sing and act on stage.”

Jurek’s cast brings in community actors from across Middle Tennessee.

Playing the role of Elwood is Goodlettsville’s Raymon Whitt, who is currently studying acting and is a member of the Actors Workshop, as well as working on several projects at The Watkins Film Institute. Whitt is performing in his first play at The Renaissance Center.

Franklin resident Carole Ferrell portrays Veta Simmons, Elwood’s sister who wants to have him committed. A former children’s radio program host from Memphis, Ferrell was active in theatre in the Memphis area before moving to Middle Tennessee and making her local debut as Levi’s wife in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at The Renaissance Center.

“I wanted to play a character role in a non-musical,” Ferrell said of her decision to audition for Harvey. “My experience with the Renaissance Players and Joseph was so positive that I didn’t want to leave.”

She describes Veta as a multi-faceted character.

“She has a lot of pride in her heritage and upbringing, but has also had trials in her life,” Ferrell said. “She loves her daughter (Myrtle Mae), her home and her brother, Elwood, but often has her priorities skewed as she tries to promote her daughter and her self. Veta alternates between domineering mother, spoiled sister, obnoxious social climber and lonely widow.”

Christina Jones of Nashville is in the role of Myrtle Mae Simmons. A student at St. Cecilia Academy, Jones has appeared in numerous community productions including Godspell, Grease!, Little Shop of Horrors, A Christmas Carol, The Wizard of Oz and Oliver.

She said being in Harvey “gives me the opportunity to share my passion with so many people.” Jones calls Myrtle Mae “immature, sarcastic and self-involved. She hasn’t really seen what the world has to offer.”

Michael Oliver of Franklin plays Dr. Lyman Sanderson, who has his own issues with Harvey the rabbit at Chumley’s Rest, the sanitarium where Veta attempts to commit Elwood.

Oliver says performing on stage is another step in his ambition to try different things. So far that includes earning his pilot’s license, running in a marathon and graduating from a seminary.

Nashville’s Melissa Fox plays nurse Ruth Kelly. A senior at Trevecca Nazarene University where she is completing a major in theatre, Fox appeared on The Renaissance Center stage in Joseph. She also teaches the summer drama camps for Tennessee Repertory Theatre.

“I’m a theatre student and jumped at the opportunity to work with another director,” Fox said. “The Renaissance Center has such a beautiful space and I couldn’t wait to perform on its stage after having such a great experience during Joseph.”

Fox calls Nurse Kelly “sassy. She’s very feminine and serious, but spunky too.”

Dickson County resident Jon Kopischke plays Dr. Chumley, owner of Chumley’s Rest. He is a veteran of several area community productions, including South Pacific, Tommy, The Wizard of Oz and 1776. His wife Valerie, a former teacher, is stage manager for Harvey.

Bellevue’s Beth Burch has the role of Chumley’s wife, Betty. A former finalist on the nationally televised talent contest You Can Be a Star, Burch has appeared in several shows at The Renaissance Center, including Joseph, The Odd Couple, Godspell and Dearly Departed.

“I love the stage and I think this is a wonderful story,” Burch said of her latest show. “Mrs. Betty Chumley is a rich doctor’s wife who is kind and clueless. She wants to be helpful to everyone she meets.”

Dickson resident Carey Thompson finds himself in a somewhat familiar setting with his role as Judge Omar Gaffney. By day Thompson is an assistant district attorney with the 23rd Judicial District, having been a practicing trial attorney for 17 years.

In making his first stage appearance since high school, Thompson said he wanted to “scratch an old itch. Acting has always interested me.”

The real-life lawyer describes Judge Gaffney, who represents the Dowds, as a “blustery, pompous, but kindly old retired judge.”

Appearing as Ethel Chauvenet is Kim Brownfiel Cantu of Bon Aqua, who also is familiar to patrons of theatre at The Renaissance Center, having appeared in Dearly Departed and Godspell and having served as stage manager for Grease! and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

“Harvey is a classic, a movie that I grew up loving,” said Cantu. “The characters within it are loveable as they try to deal - with as much dignity as possible - with the situations they are immersed in. Elwood’s method of dealing with reality has always endeared him to me.

“Ethel Chauvenet is the absolute pinnacle of society,” Cantu said. “To be accepted in her eyes is to have climbed society’s ranks and reached the ultimate clique.”

White Bluff resident Tim Southerland is making his stage debut as Duane Wilson in Harvey. His previous stage experience consists of church skits and 14 years of puppetry as a youth director.

Joining him on stage is his father, Ned Southerland, a motivational speaker and certified millwright, who is making his debut as E.J. Lofgren.

The family has already had a presence on The Renaissance Center stage with Curtis Southerland, Tim’s brother, appearing in Grease! and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

“All of my friends and family encouraged me to try out because I always enjoyed entertaining,” Tim Southerland said.

He describes Wilson as “the smart aleck, strong arm who can’t understand why everyone is so insane when it comes to this rabbit Harvey.”

Find out exactly how insane an imaginary rabbit can make people when Harvey runs for two weekends in the Performance Hall at The Renaissance Center. For tickets call (615)740-5570.

Harvey begins the Renaissance Players’ 2002-03 season and is the first offering in the Season Pass. An adult season pass is $50 and in addition to Harvey includes tickets to A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (Oct. 18-27), A Christmas Story (Dec. 5-15), The Sound of Music (March 14-23), Arsenic and Old Lace (May 9-18) and Annie Get Your Gun (July 11-20), as well as Renaissance Repertory Theatre Company productions of And Then They Came for Me: Remembering the World of Anne Frank (Nov. 9) and Amelia Lives (April 19).

The Renaissance Center is an arts and technology education center at 855 Highway 46 South, just 35 miles west of Nashville on Interstate 40 at exit 172.

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