‘Harvey’ to hit stage Friday

The Shafer Alliance Laboratory Theater is presenting “Harvey” – its second play of the season – this Friday at the Shafer Street Playhouse.

The play features a cast larger than those in most SALT performances-usually around three to five actors. “Harvey” calls for 12 actors plus one that requires a little imagination, according to assistant director and theater major Sarah Polton.”Harvey is about a man named Ellwood, and he sees a six-and-a-half-foot rabbit in the forest,” Polton said.

Polton said the play’s message finds its humor in the other characters.

“The play is about everyone’s reaction to this character’s imaginary friend, Harvey. It’s all about miscommunication, and it’s really funny,” she said.

Extra steps were taken to ensure lead Eben Kuhns didn’t lose site of his imaginary friend, in order to portray the imaginary character as realistically as possible.

“Sometimes when we’re rehearsing a scene, I’ll stand in the scene and walk around with Evan so he can follow me with his eyes. Then I’ll leave the scene so he can actually use his imagination to keep Harvey in the scene,” Polton said.

This type of commitment to the huge imaginary rabbit appears to have carried over into the actors’ real lives, as well.

“Evan likes to pretend he is Ellwood sometimes, walking around the street. We all like to pretend to see Harvey, too. If someone moves his or her arm where Harvey would be standing, someone will yell, ‘You hit Harvey!'” Polton said.

Although the play has had its production issues regarding timely set construction, dropped roles and only having four weeks of rehearsal so far, Polton said the cast is still in high spirits.

“Production has been a chaotic whirlwind, but the cast has been having so much fun,” she said. “We just had so much fun playing around with the characters and taking them to extremes and playing them realistically.”

To keep things fresh, Polton and director Emily Dalton put a spin on the mood of the entire play for one rehearsal.

“We even did a soap-opera night where we performed the entire play like a soap opera,” Polton said.

Polton promised a few twists that weren’t in the original 1950 film of the same name.

“There’s a character in the play-a big, tough bodyguard named Wilson. So we cast a guy who’s much smaller and scrawnier. There are all these lines about how big and tough he is before you see him for the first time,” Polton said.

The play’s independence from its established version could end up making the play thoroughly enjoyable for audience members.

“The director told us not to watch the movie, so we really invented everything ourselves,” Polton said.

“Harvey” runs Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. at the Shafer Street Playhouse’s Newdick Theater. The performance is free to the public and appropriate for all ages.