Audition

By Mary Chase

Directed by Marina Tidwell

Audition Dates:
Saturday, April 2, 1:30pm - 4:00pm
Monday, April 4, 7:00pm - 9:30pm

Race-neutral casting for all roles.
Gender-neutral casting, see Mrs. Chauvenet/Cabby below.

Theatre Palisades Pierson Playhouse
941 Temescal Canyon Rd
Pacific Palisades, CA 90272
Map and Directions

Performance Dates:
June 3 - July 10, 2022
Fridays & Saturdays at 8:00pm, Sundays at 2:00pm
18 total performances

Rehearsals:
Begin April 11, Mondays - Thursdays, 7:00pm - 10:00pm

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. At the sanitarium, a frantic Veta explains to the staff that her years of living with Elwood’s hallucination have caused her to see Harvey also, and so the doctors mistakenly commit her instead of her mild-mannered brother. The truth comes out, however; Veta is freed, and the search is on for Elwood, who eventually arrives at the sanitarium of his own volition, looking for Harvey. But it seems that Elwood and his invisible companion have had a strange influence on more than one of the doctors. Only at the end does Veta realize that maybe Harvey isn’t so bad after all.

If auditioning for Elwood, Dr. Chumley, Veta or the cabby Lofgren please be familiar with the sides below, you may be asked to read them.

PDF Sides:
Monologues
Scenes

Males, 25 to 70:

Elwood P. Dowd
Elwood P. Dowd is the central character of the play, an eccentric bachelor whose best friend is Harvey, an invisible six-foot-tall rabbit. Elwood is charming, kind, and friendly. He also drinks a little. Elwood’s innocence and childlike nature irritate his sister Veta and his niece Myrtle (who live with him).

Dr. Lyman Sanderson
Dr. Sanderson is a young and highly qualified psychiatrist. His talent is only surpassed by his vanity. He is as infatuated with Nurse Kelly as she is with him, though he struggles not to let on.

Wilson
Wilson is the muscle of Chumley’s Rest, a devoted orderly responsible for handling any patients who will not cooperate voluntarily. He sets his sights on Myrtle Mae Simmons soon after meeting her.

Dr. William B. Chumley
Dr. Chumley is an esteemed psychiatrist and the head of Chumley’s Rest with years of experience. He is a difficult, exacting man who will go to any length to protect the reputation of his sanitarium, but may also need an avenue of escape from his responsibilities.

Judge Omar Gaffney
The judge is an old family friend of the Dowds and the family’s lawyer. He is fiercely protective of the family, especially Veta, and surprisingly understanding of Elwood’s belief in Harvey.

Females, 18 to 70:

Veta Louise Simmons
Elwood's sister, Veta has returned to the family home after the death of her mother and is intent on landing a suitable husband for her daughter Myrtle Mae. She loves her older brother Elwood but, as propriety clashes with eccentricity, Veta becomes undone by her brother's relationship with the invisible Harvey. Her actions drive the plot.

Nurse Kelly
An attractive young nurse with a crush on the handsome but obtuse psychiatrist Dr. Sanderson. She is charmed by Elwood's courtly ways. She can be fiery, but she looks for the best in people.

Myrtle Mae Simmons
Myrtle, Veta's daughter (Elwood's niece), is high-strung and ruthlessly self-centered in her mission-to-marry -- which is made impossible with Elwood and Harvey constantly popping in.

Betty Chumley
Dr. Chumley’s kind and talkative wife, she’s more concerned with socializing than with science. She may have an outrageous and loud personality, but she also trusts people very easily.

Ethel Chauvenet / cab driver EJ Lofgren
Looking for a versatile person to play both the upper crust Mrs. Chauvenet and the working class cab driver Lofgren.
Mrs. Chauvenet is an old friend of the family. She is an elite member of the town's social circle that Veta desperately wants Myrtle to break into.
Lofgren is the cab driver who regularly takes patients to and from Chumley's Rest -- and sees the negative results. Lofgren's monologue is crucial to the climax of the play.


If you plan on auditioning, please take a moment to read Theatre Palisades' Statement of Standards.