Corban Theatre’s Harvey Invites Audiences to Laugh, Believe, and Choose Kindness
What should we make of a world where the sanest man in the room believes in an imaginary six-foot rabbit?
For Corban University Theatre’s fall production of Harvey, Mary Chase’s Pulitzer Prize-winning comedy, the line between reality and imagination is delightfully blurred. But behind the absurdity of an invisible rabbit, a collection of bewildered psychiatrists, and a family desperate to preserve its social standing lies a surprisingly profound question: What does it really mean to live well?
Directed by Tamara McGinnis, Harvey promises an evening of laughter, whimsy, and unexpected wisdom as audiences are invited to reconsider the things that matter most.
The story follows Elwood P. Dowd (Noah Whitted), a charming and eccentric gentleman whose closest companion happens to be Harvey, an invisible six-foot-three-and-a-half-inch rabbit. While Elwood seems perfectly content with his unusual friendship, his sister Veta and niece Myrtle Mae are considerably less enthusiastic. Fearing that his eccentricity will ruin their social prospects, they attempt to have him committed to a psychiatric institution. But a series of hilarious misunderstandings soon turns their carefully ordered world upside down.
For Whitted, stepping into Elwood’s shoes has been both a challenge and an unexpected source of inspiration.
“It’s just been so much fun to really take off myself and try and put on this person that is Elwood, that is this strange, strange person,” Whitted says. “Honestly, it’s been inspiring to get to work alongside him.”
And while Elwood’s peculiar friendship may be the source of much of the play’s comedy, his extraordinary kindness is what gives the story its heart.
“The question of the entire play is, is he in the wrong for believing in this creature?” asks Alekai Faber, who plays the imposing psychiatrist, Dr. Chumley. “Because out of the entire play, Elwood P. is the only person who’s actually nice to people, who shows actual love to people, and isn’t looking out for himself.”
It is this curious inversion of normalcy that makes Harvey so enduring. The supposedly rational characters become increasingly frantic, selfish, and absurd, while the man everyone considers insane remains remarkably peaceful, generous, and content.
For McGinnis, the opportunity to explore these questions begins with something much simpler: a good laugh.
“I selected this play partially because I felt like we needed a really good laugh,” she explains. “There are funny situations, there are funny jokes, there is just a lot of humor.”
That desire for laughter is woven into the play’s origins. Written during World War II, Harvey was inspired in part by Chase’s encounter with a grieving neighbor who had lost her son in the war. Witnessing the emotional toll of a nation engulfed in tragedy, Chase wondered whether she could write something that would help people laugh again.
More than 80 years later, McGinnis believes that same invitation to laughter, hope, and human connection remains profoundly relevant.
“The nice thing is, it is not only a funny, relaxing, enjoyable night out, but it also will offer you a little bit of food for thought, if you choose,” she says. “We do not preach, but we do offer you some sustenance if you would like to take it.”
Beneath the comedy lies a challenge to the ways we define success, sanity, and even reality itself. Elwood’s willingness to embrace the inexplicable opens his eyes to something the other characters consistently overlook: the extraordinary value of ordinary people.
While his family scrambles for social standing and his doctors wrestle with diagnoses, Elwood spends his days befriending strangers, listening to their troubles, and offering kindness without expectation.
For McGinnis, that peculiar ability to see beyond the immediate and tangible offers an unexpected parallel to Christian faith.
“Reality is much more than the concrete physical reality that we interact with all the time,” she explains. “There is something beyond that. And in this play, the guy who sees beyond is considered kind of crazy.”
McGinnis points to a particularly poignant moment when Elwood describes the strangers he meets in local taverns. They come carrying their deepest hurts, regrets, and desires, and Elwood simply listens before introducing them to his extraordinary friend.
“We need someone to listen to us and then we need them to introduce us to someone that is bigger than these things that we are bringing,” McGinnis says. “And as believers, that’s what we’re offering people.”
It is a perspective that challenges a culture often preoccupied with achievement, appearances, and the relentless pursuit of the next great thing. Harvey offers its audience the chance to consider the potential that our insistence on being right, respectable, and successful may have blinded us to the people standing directly in front of us. What if the things we cannot see are sometimes the very things that make life worth living?
In one of the play’s most memorable lines, Elwood recalls his mother’s advice that in life one must choose between being “oh so smart” or “oh so pleasant.” Having tried both, Elwood offers his recommendation: pleasant.
It is a simple sentiment, but perhaps a radical one for a world increasingly inundated with information, opinion, and ambition, yet often starved for genuine kindness.
For the cast of Harvey, that kindness extends beyond the stage. Whitted and Faber describe a theatre community defined by encouragement, friendship, and a shared love of bringing stories to life.
“Every time somebody steps out on stage, you better believe every one of us is rooting for them and trying to make sure they look as good as they can,” Faber says.
With its eccentric characters, spirited performances, and delightful blend of farce and philosophy, Harvey offers audiences an opportunity to escape the ordinary while perhaps rediscovering something essential about it.
After all, a world with an invisible rabbit might not be quite so strange as a world without kindness.
Corban Theatre’s Harvey will be performed November 12-14 and 20-22 at Corban University’s Psalm Performing Arts Center. Audiences are invited to come for the laughter, stay for the unexpected wisdom, and discover for themselves whether Harvey is imaginary, or whether there might be more to reality than meets the eye.
