'Harvey' humorous reminder to not take life too seriously
This past week, I got an advance look at "Harvey," the newest play by the Conway Dinner Theater group.
The sometimes funny, sometimes somber look at life is a good play for anyone to see and teaches the value of not being too judgmental, regardless of what someone's personal beliefs are.
The piece circles a middle-aged Elwood P. Dowd (Jay Ruud), who asserts that his friend Harvey - a 6 foot tall rabbit - is in fact real.
The action becomes even more confusing when his sister, Veta Louise Simmons (Nancy Allen), attempts to place him under psychiatric care in a sanitarium and gets mistaken by the doctor in charge for being the psychotic one.
Laughs ensue as the confusion grows. Dowd slowly becomes recognized as one of the saner characters, despite his continuing assertion that Harvey is real.
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His niece, Myrtle Mae Simmons (Amy Ward), sums this view up near the end of the play.
"It gets on people's nerves the way Elwood knows what's going to happen before it happens," she said.
Side plots of romance balance out Elwood's predicament but is done so in a way that it doesn't feel forced. For instance, the actors keep up a believable chemistry.
Elwood, played by Jay Ruud, keeps the laughs going. Ruud also appeared in the Conway Dinner Theater's production of "Annie, Get Your Gun." He coincidentally appears in the play with his daughter, Jennifer Ruud, who comically plays two women older than Elwood and co-directs the piece with her husband, Gerry Bruno.
Acting presumably runs in the family, as all have appeared in several dramatic venues before.
Being in the rehearsal stage, the play still had its hang-ups, with some actors fumbling for lines and sound effects going off at the wrong places. However, the actual performances made up for the small mistakes made.
If you haven't ordered a ticket yet, now's the time. While Sunday's audience is filling up, seats are still available for both the Monday and Thursday night performances. Those interested may contact the Faulkner Academy of Arts at 339-3701, at the Conway Dinner Theater's Web site, located at www.conwaydinnertheater.com, or at the Oak Street Bistro, the restaurant providing the food for each performance.
Tickets are $30.
(Staff writer Jerrica Ryan can be reached by e-mail at jerrica.ryan@thecabin.net or by phone at 505-1266. Send us your news at www.thecabin.net/submit.)