"Harvey" auditions at the Blue Ridge Community Theater

[Randy_Norma]

Hello all!!
It's been a while since I posted anything...and I had some catch up reading on some posts this morning!!

Norma asked me to post information on the upcoming auditions at the Blue Ridge Community Theater for "Harvey" the main stage play she is directing. Auditions are Feb 23rd & 24th at 6 p.m. at the Theater.

She has 12 roles to fill (6 male, 6 female). If you think you might like to participate in this production and support of the theater, come on out and "play".

Here are descriptions of the character roles:
Elwood P. Dowd (male): Age 45-65. He is the central character of the play, a friendly eccentric who spends most of his days and nights in taverns of his unnamed town. His best friend is Harvey, an invisible six-foot-tall rabbit. He is very charming, always pleasant, and a very likable person. Is he crazy? You be the judge!!

Veta Louis Simmons (Female): Age 45-65 (according to how we cast Elwood). She is a very important character to the play because she joins two opposing forces, logic and imagination But Veta is a comic character and is just as unstable in her own way as is her brother. In fact, Veta admits at one point that she has actually seen Harvey on a few occasions, indicating that she and her brother share a common state of mind.

Myrtle Mae Simmons (female): Age 20-45.She is 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. They are afraid that prospective suitors will be frightened away when they find out that Elwood has an imaginary friend. Myrtle is less charitable about Elwood’s odd behavior than Veta.

Dr Lyman Sanderson (male): Age 25-35. Dr. Sanderson is 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.

Ruth Kelly (female): Age 25-35. Nurse Kelly is a sympathetic character, a pretty young woman who appears to have some sort of love/hate relationship with Dr. Sanderson. Of the people at the sanitarium, it is Nurse Kelly that Elwood responds to.

Dr, William B. Chumley (male): Age 50-70.Chumley is 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. We find out in the end that he is not such a tough guy after all.

Betty Chumley (female): Age 50-70Dr. Chumley’s wife shows up just briefly in Act I, Scene II. Like Veta, she is 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.’’

Ethel Chauvenet (female): Age 50-70. Mrs. Chauvenet is 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. She is delighted to see Elwood, whom she has not seen in a while, until he introduces her to Harvey: then, suspecting his sanity, she hastily apologizes and leaves.

Judge Omar Gaffy (male): Age 55-70. The judge is 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. He is the family’s lawyer; so, when Veta wants to commit Elwood, it is up to Judge Gaffney to arrange the commitment papers, and when Vetawants to sue Chumley’s Rest for wrongly committing her, it is also his case to file.

E.J. Lofgren (male): Age 30-60. At the end of the play, it is the cab driver, Lofgren, who makes Veta realize that the treatment that is supposed to make Elwood stop seeing Harvey might drain him of his kind personality.

Wilson (male): Age 25-50. Wilson is the muscle of Chumley’s Rest, a devoted orderly responsible for handling the patients who will not cooperate voluntarily. He is vulgar and crude and completely devoted to Dr. Chumley, almost frantic with concern when he thinks that Elwoodmay have hurt the doctor. When he goes to the Dowd house looking for Elwood, Wilson flirts with Myrtle—she seems interested in him.

Miss Johnson (female): Any age. We may or may not cast this role. This is the perfect part for someone who has never acted before, but would like to be on stage for a brief time. Miss Johnson is 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.