Audition Notice: Harvey

Harvey Auditions

The Footlight Club is happy to announce upcoming auditions for Harvey, written by Mary Chase. Audition slots are likely to fill up quickly, so sign up early and reserve your spot!  We look forward to seeing you at auditions!  

Director: Zachary Best
Producers: Olivia Sederlund & Carol Pyper

Performance Dates:
Saturday, September 7th, 8pm
Sunday, September 8th, 2pm
Friday, September 13th, 8pm
Saturday, September 14th, 8pm
Sunday, September 15th, 2pm
Friday, September 20th, 8pm
Saturday, September 21st, 8pm


Tech Dates (attendance is required): September 1st through September 6th.
Location: The Footlight Club, Eliot Hall, 7A Eliot Street, Jamaica Plain, MA
Rehearsals: Rehearsals will begin at the end of June/beginning of July and run Sunday/Tuesday/Thursday throughout the summer. (Exact rehearsal nights subject to change based on cast availability.) 
Strike: Mandatory strike is September 22nd.

AUDITIONS: By appointment only, please sign up here. Please email co-producer Carol Pyper with any questions.
Location: The Footlight Club, Eliot Hall, 7A Eliot Street, Jamaica Plain, MA
Dates: Tuesday, June 11th & Wednesday, June 12th from 7pm - 10pm. Sign up for an hour slot via the link above.
Callbacks: Saturday, June 15th from 11am - 2pm. 


Audition Requirements:

  • Audition forms can be filled out online or in person at the time of your audition. These wil be emailed out a week prior to auditions. 

  • Please arrive at least 15 minutes proper to your slot to complete an audition form on site.

  • Bring a headshot and resume, if you have one!

  • Know your conflicts from June through September 22nd to list on the audition sheet. Please be thorough. Some conflicts can be scheduled around if we know about them ahead of time.

Other Audition Info:

  • Appointment times are start times.  Each time slot will accommodate up to twelve (12) auditioners. Please arrive in enough time prior to your appointment time to be ready to begin the process promptly.  

  • Missed appointments or late arrivals will only be accommodated as space and time allows.

  • Not all roles require callbacks.  

  • Actors needed at callbacks will be notified following each audition (or by 10am the day before Callbacks).


SHOW SUMMARY:

Elwood P. Dowd insists on including his friend Harvey in all of his sister Veta's social gatherings. Trouble is, Harvey is an imaginary six-and-a-half-foot-tall rabbit. To avoid future embarrassment for her family-and especially for her daughter, Myrtle Mae, Veta decides to have Elwood committed to a sanitarium. Playwright Mary Chase received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Harvey in 1945.


THE CHARACTERS: 

The Footlight Club welcomes and encourages qualified performers of all ages, ethnicities, body types, genders, and abilities to audition. Please feel free to audition for the role you'd most like to play.

Elwood P. Dowd: The central character of the play, a friendly eccentric who spends his days and nights in the taverns of his unnamed town. Elwood's best friend is Harvey, an invisible six and a half-foot-tall rabbit.

Veta Louise Simmons: Elwood's sister who is becoming undone by her brother's relationship with the invisible Harvey. She decides to have Elwood committed to a sanitarium to spare the family any further embarrassment. However, the easily flustered Veta ends up being committed herself when she confesses that she too feels that she sometimes "sees" Harvey.

Myrtle Mae Simmons: Myrtle lives with her widowed mother Veta in her Uncle Elwood's home. Unmarried and eager to meet eligible men but believes her uncle's peculiar behavior is ruining her chances.

Ethel Chauvenet: An old friend of the family. She is a member of the town's social circle, which Veta wants her daughter Myrtle Mae to break into.

Betty Chumley: 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." Dr. Chumley’s Wife.

Dr. William B. Chumley: 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.

Judge Omar Gaffney: An old family friend of the Dowd's, a representative of the people in town who are accustomed to seeing Elwood talking to Harvey and who do not think anything of it.

Nurse Ruth Kelly: An attractive young nurse with a crush on the handsome but obtuse psychiatrist Dr. Sanderson. She is charmed by Elwood's courtly ways.

Dr. Lyman Sanderson: Young, but very qualified psychiatrist - 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.

Wilson: The muscle of Chumley's Rest, a devoted orderly responsible for handling the patients who will not cooperate voluntarily.

E. J. Lofgren: Cab driver who regularly takes patients to and from Chumley's Rest - and sees the negative results.

Cateress/Maid: Works for the Simmons household.