They Say We Are What We Are, But We Don't Have To Be

On March 14th, I drove myself to a theatre I had never had the opportunity to perform before and auditioned for their upcoming show.  They asked me to come to callbacks on the 17th.  I was thrilled!

Callbacks were really fun, but I was nervous when I saw that the director knew some of the people there from previous shows.  A lot of directors in my area have their favorites.  It's fine.  I understand wanting to work with your friends.  You know them.  You know if they will show up and work hard.

But let me tell you how excited I was when I got a phone call in a day or two asking me to play the part of Myrtle Mae in Harvey!

Oh, oh, oh, so excited!  I had been in Harvey in high school so I knew the story.  It's an amazing story.  There's a movie out by the same name with a classic star known as Jimmy Stewart.  If you didn't get to see my show, you should check it out.  

But I had such a wonderful experience there!  I made awesome new friends and I got to work with one of my favorite local actors for the first time in eight years.  He's amazing and I'm so glad the stars aligned in order for me to work with him again.  He played my uncle.  The main character.  I also got to work with a friend of mine who directed me in Death By Chocolate and Angel Street.  The marvelous Diane Robbins! But I should say, I don't have any pictures of her because I was on the stage when she was and couldn't take any. :(

Let's just get to the pictures already!

That's Josh and Dave.  Josh played Elwood P. Dowd.  Elwood sees Harvey.  Harvey is a pooka.  A big white rabbit.  Nobody else sees him.  It's embarrassing to Veta (his sister, my mother)

So she thinks he should be put in a mental hospital.

Dave played Dr. Chumley. The head of Chumley's Rest (AKA, the mental hospital).

 Here they are talking about Harvey.

 And Dr. Chumley reminisces about what he would do if he could.

This is Andrew.  He played Dr. Sanderson.  But one day, Katie (who plays Nurse Kelly) couldn't be there, so he played her part, too (he's so talented).  This is the part where Ruthie kisses Elwood.  So he sniffed him instead.  Hee hee.  Good times.

 After Veta goes to Chumley's rest, Dr. Sanderson assures Elwood that he is not in fact the crazy one, but it's his sister, Veta.

 That's Katie.  She played Ruth Kelly, and she's awesome.  She's kind and a really good artist.  Oh, and she works with autistic kids in real life.

Elwood likes to pass out his card and tells people to call him anytime.

 He makes friends wherever he goes.  Whether they realize it or not.

 Ruthie and Dr. Sanderson are in love.  But Dr. Chumley says no romances in the office, so they just fight instead.

 This is Alin.  She played Betty Chumley.  The wife of Dr. Chumley.

She's awesome, and lets everyone know they made a mistake by committing Veta instead of Elwood.

 We didn't have an scenes together, but we had fun hanging out backstage.

 Finally.  This is Meredith.  She played Veta Louise.  She was so fun to work with.

I love her guts. :)

 This is Ethan.  He played Wilson.  The orderly at Chumley's rest.  He was fun to work with, too.  Wilson checks out Myrtle Mae and thinks she's the bee's knees.  He's also the orderly that took mother to her room and put her in a hydro-tub.

 This is actually one of my favorite pictures that I took.

Dr. Chumley is so angry with Dr. Sanderson for committing the wrong patient that he fires him.  This is Andrew's face as he's being fired.  How could you fire a guy with a face like that?

 Nurse Kelly was pretty sad about it, too.

 Ethan smiling because he forgot his line. :)

 Veta gives Dr. Chumley an art lesson.

 Elwood gave Ruthie flowers.

 That lady sitting in the chair in the audience was my director.  I loved working with her.  She said nice things to me all the time. ;)

 Wilson does not like Elwood.  He is crazy and somewhere along the way, he lost Dr. Chumley!

But Elwood doesn't like him either and tells him to go find some other friends to play with.

 This is a good face.  I like it.

Here's a picture of Myrtle and Wilson meeting for the first time.

Katie took a bunch of pictures of me during Act 2, but most of them are blurry or I think I look terrible in them.  It's a problem. :)

 That's me as Myrtle Mae, my mother, and Stan who played Judge Gaffney.  He was the family lawyer who was always taking care of Veta.  This is after she returns home from Chumley's Rest.

And this is a promotional shot.

Myrtle Mae is not a very nice person.  She's spoiled and only wants to meet a man and get married.  She hopes Wilson is that man, but Veta will have none of that!

Harvey ran at the Center Point Theatre June 12th through July 3rd.

I was not ready for it to end. 

My favorite quote from the show:

"Fly-specks.  I've been spending my life among fly-specks while miracles are leaning on lamp-posts on 18th and Fairfax." (Dr. Chumley)

My favorite line that I got to say was when Myrtle Mae and her mother were throwing a party at the start of the show.  She was promised that Elwood would not be at the party, but he showed up and humiliated her by introducing Harvey to all of her party guests.  Veta is also upset, but tells her they've got to smile through it and act like nothing happened.  Myrtle responds with:

"Oh, mother.  People get run over by trucks everyday.  Why can't something like that happen to Uncle Elwood?"

Oh.  Did I mention this was a comedy?  Yes, that line was supposed to be funny, so laugh!  Or else!

And now, for your listening enjoyment: