ROSSFORD – The
high school drama club, under the direction of Julie Zatko and Ryan Mahaffey, will present the beloved
Pulitzer Prize winning 1944 comedy, "Harvey" this month.Production dates are Thursday through
Nov. 17 on the Wilcox Stage in the RHS auditorium.Nov. 14-16 performances are at 7:30 p.m. with a
matinee at 2 p.m. on Nov. 17.Tickets are $8 for students and senior citizens, and $10 for
adults.Sophomore Andrew Sabovik stars as eccentric bachelor Elwood P. Dowd who claims to have an unseen
friend Harvey, whom he describes as a six-foot, three-and-one-half-inch tall white rabbit.His
social-climbing sister, Veta Louise (senior Haley Peterson), finds his behavior embarrassing, especially
when family friend Mrs. "Aunt" Ethel Chauvenet (junior Taylor Moore) visits. Veta Louise
decides to have Elwood committed to a sanitarium to spare her and her daughter Myrtle Mae (freshman
Emily Williams) from future embarrassment.When they arrive at the sanitarium, a comedy of errors ensues.
The doctors commit Veta instead of Elwood. When Elwood shows up at the sanitarium looking for his lost
friend Harvey, it seems that the mild-mannered Elwood’s delusion has a strange influence on the staff,
including sanitarium director Dr. William Chumley (senior Brandon Goldsmith), his dim socialite wife
Betty Chumley (junior Hannah Peterson), his young business partner, Dr. Lyman Sanderson (sophomore Danny
Fox), along with Nurse Ruth Kelly (senior Stephanie Hiner) and brute orderly Duane Wilson (senior Trent
Morelock).Only just before Elwood is to be given medical injections that will make him depressed and
catatonic, a cabdriver, E.F. Lofgren (sophomore Alex Santellana) observes the drastic changes he sees in
people coming in and out of the sanitarium. Veta realizes that she’d rather have Elwood medicine free –
carefree and kind – even if it means living with Harvey.Also starring is freshman Lexi Rakovan as Miss
Johnson.Inspired by the Celtic folktales and urban legends told to her as a child by her four Irish
uncles, playwright Mary Chase’s "Harvey" debuted on Broadway in 1944, winning the Pulitzer
Prize for Drama, beating out Tennessee WIlliam’s "The Glass Menagerie." It was the sixth
longest running play in Broadway history."Harvey" is directed by Julie Zatko and Ryan Mahaffey
with technical direction and design by Eddie Czubinski.