‘Harvey’ hits the stage tonight

WASILLA — First-time director Tracy “TJ” Jones is giving the 1940s’ “Harvey” a whole new look at Valley Performing Arts this weekend.

Kicking off the theater’s 41st season, Jones said she’s modernized the classic tale of a good-natured man with an invisible, rabbit-like companion, without losing the original work.

Where the Simmons family would typically use a phonebook, for example, Apple’s digital personal assistant, Siri, is used instead. Many of the characters have also aged down, including lead character Elwood P. Dowd, played by Wasilla High School junior Shane Conrad.

Conrad also portrayed Elwood in Wasilla High’s production of “Harvey” last year, which he said was “way different” from the latest VPA version — from the way he moves to the way he talks and presents himself, Conrad said.

“I like that they’re different,” he said. “I like that I’m not playing the same character.”

One of the biggest challenges in both plays, he said, is interacting with Harvey, who is not actually portrayed by a real person.

“Making him appear real to the audience is all about making that character appear that he’s actually walking or that he’s standing next to me,” Conrad said.

However, Elwood isn’t the only character who acknowledges the rabbit in the room. His sister, Veta Simmons — played by rookie VPA actress Hannah McCone — also interacts with the “pooka,” as Harvey is called, though her apparent rejection of the character makes it unclear whether she actually sees him or only pretends to, to humor Elwood.

But eventually it gets to be too much, and rather than believe in Harvey, Veta tries to commit Elwood to a sanitarium.

“Veta is kind of high-strung ... but she also loves her brother very much, so there’s a soft side to her,” McCone said.

McCone said she’s “able to channel the character pretty easily,” despite the fact that Veta’s personality doesn’t match her own. “Harvey” is also only McCone’s second play, after acting in a local production of “A Christmas Carol” directed independently by AJ Seims several years ago.

The main reason she joined the cast of “Harvey,” she said, was to hang out with her dad, Scott Allred, who plays Dr. William Chumley in the show.

“I like spending time with my dad,” McCone said.

Initially, though, she ignored her father’s encouragement to audition, seeing the show as a huge time commitment. But after a couple weeks of rehearsals with no Veta, Allred convinced McCone — and Jones — to give it a shot.

Jones, who plays the sanitarium “strong arm” D. Wilson — Duane Wilson in the original — said she was about to give up and play Veta herself, until McCone walked in.

“The second she walked in I was like, ah, yes,” Jones said.

The show was already blocked by that time and McCone had never read the script before, she said, but nailed the part anyway.

“She cold-read through the whole thing and did amazing,” Jones said.

The director’s thoughts

Now that “hell week,” as thespians call the last week of rehearsals, is coming to a close, Jones said she’s excited for the curtains to open on a show that’s been her full-time job for the last several weeks.

“I’ve been so busy, but it’s never once been stressful, it’s never once been overwhelming,” she said.

Even doubling as actress and director has been perfectly doable, she said, thanks to her assistant, 2016 Wasilla grad Kylee Hanson.

“We’re on the same page, her and I,” she said. “I (told her), anywhere I go in life, if I start to like, really take off, you’re coming with me.”

Jones moved to the Big Lake-Houston area with Palmer native Alexander Salter from Utah a few years ago. She and Salter — who is making his theatrical debut this weekend as Dr. Lyman Sanderson — call themselves “gypsies,” playing music and creating art, working odd jobs wherever life takes them. It’s a transient lifestyle, but one Jones said she enjoys and inspires her to always find new perspectives — a perfect parallel to what she’s done with “Harvey.”

“That’s what I love in life, seeing things done (that are) new, fresh, raw — created from some place that’s real,” Jones said. “So if people can feel that … then I’m doing what I’m meant to do.”

And VPA, Salter said, is a great place to do that.

“You don’t see community theater like this in the Lower 48,” he said.

“Harvey” opens at Valley Performing Arts on Friday, Sept. 9 at 7 p.m. Tickets are $20 general admission and $18 for students and seniors, available online or at the door. Visit www.valleyperformingarts.org or call 373-0195 for additional showtimes and seat availability.

Contact reporter Caitlin Skvorc at 352-2266 or caitlin.skvorc@frontiersman.com.