by Rocco Jean Roth

“If you’re going to tell a lie, tell a whopper!” yells Dr. Mortimer as events begin to spin deliriously out of control somewhere in Act Two of It Runs in the Family.

Delirium is, of course, followed by hysteria, which is naturally followed by catastrophe, all perfectly routine in Ray Cooney’s frenetic British farce, which opens on Friday June 20th as the second production of the Playhouse at McConnellstown’s wildly successful 2008 season.

“It’s wonderfully silly,” says the production’s director, Playhouse stalwart Jeanne Nagurny of Huntingdon. “Pure insanity.”

The play is set in St. Andrews, an unlikely London hospital. Here’s how Ms. Nagurny sums up the plot: “Well, Dr. Mortimer is supposed to give an important lecture. There’s a possible knighthood involved, okay? But Nurse Tate, who’s Mortimer’s former mistress, shows up with a punk rocker son Mortimer has never heard of. Mortimer gets his friend Dr. Bonney to pretend to be the boy’s father. Meanwhile, Mrs. Mortimer is on the trail of Nurse Tate. With me so far? Now there’s this pathological matron, three men in drag wearing a total of four dresses, two vicars, three imposter matrons (one unconscious), an incorrigible old geezer, a helpful nun and they … well, some frilly knickers come into the story and it all works out somehow. And it’s funny!”

Dr. Mortimer is played by Playhouse co-founder Dan Weston of Huntingdon, a veteran of more than a hundred productions here, including “Harvey”, in which he played Duane Wilson, and last year’s “Arsenic and Old Lace,” in which he was Dr. Einstein. Nurse Tate is acted by Anita Burkhart of Huntingdon, seen last season in “Enchanted April”. The noxious son is played by Gregory Garlock of Petersburg, seen last season in “Soldier Come Home”.

Dr. Bonney is Chip Jackson of Huntingdon, who last appeared here in “The Complete Works of Shakespeare, Abridged”. Mrs. Mortimer will be limned by Susan DeMetrick of State College, seen in this season’s premiere production, “Harvey”. Shelby Metz (Steel Magnolias and Harvey) is the strict Matron.

Terry Ayers of Petersburg (last season’s “Arsenic and Old Lace” and “Enchanted April”) plays a police sergeant. Dr. Connelly is Travis Deptola of Homer City, who appeared last season in “Soldier Come Home.” A nutty nun is played by Becky Dell, who acted last season in “Enchanted April”. Howard Crouch (director of last season’s “Arsenic and Old Lace”) appears as Sir Willoughby Drake and Hazel Crouch (“Love Letters”) appears as Dr. Bonney’s mother. Keith Sutton (Judge Gaffney in “Harvey”) is Bill, the geezer.

To quote Ms. Nagurny again: “I foresee hysterical laughter and possibly oxygen being administered to the audience.”
Don Dietz of Williamsburg did the set decoration, lighting is by Keith Sutton, and Jeanne Allen is the dialogue coach. Among the set crew: Barb Hughes of Huntingdon, Jeanne Nagurny, Terry Ayers, Susan DeMetrick, Shelby Metz of Huntingdon, Mary Garvey of Huntingdon. Michael Norell of Three Springs, Dan Weston and Becky Dell.

It Runs in the Family goes on the boards June 20, 21, 26, 27, 28 at 8pm and June 22 and 29 at 2:30 pm. Please note the date change.

The Playhouse at McConnellstown is located on State Route 26, on the south end of rural McConnellstown, five miles south of Huntingdon and thirty-five miles south of State College. Goto www.littletheater.com for more information.

An invisible rabbit and his stewpot pal, a frustrated social-climbing mother and daughter, a nutty psychiatrist and love in bloom are all you need for a side-splitting comedy that’s just as popular today as it was when it won the Pulitzer Prize in 1944.

The Playhouse at McConnellstown will open its 26th season with Mary Chase’s timeless comedy “Harvey”, Executive Director Terry Ayers announced today. With Artistic Director Dan Weston directing, it will premiere April 24th and run through May 4th.

“We’ve got an amazingly adroit cast,” Mr. Weston said. “Most of them will be happily remembered from previous seasons. I’m excited and I hope our audience is just as excited as I am. This is a hilarious play.”

Michael Norell of Three Springs, who has appeared both on Broadway and on television, will play Elwood P. Dowd, the friendly and pixilated rumpot who is the only one able to see and converse with his faithful pooka Harvey. During the 2007 McConnellstown season, Mr. Norell was Norman Thayer in “On Golden Pond” and Jonathan Brewster in “Arsenic and Old Lace.”

Elwood’s equally-wacky sister Veta, whose efforts to put Elwood in the funny farm are the basis for the plot of “Harvey”, will be played by perennial Playhouse star Jeanne Nagurny of Huntingdon. She has been seen here in dozens of roles, memorably as Ethel Thayer in “On Golden Pond”, as the mother in “No Way to Treat a Lady”, and as Maria Callas in “Master Class”.
Frank Fay and Josephine Hull were the stars of the original Broadway production. Mr. Fay was replaced by Jimmy Stewart, who also starred in the motion picture, then revived the play in the late 60s with Helen Hayes.

Mary Garvey of Huntingdon plays Miss Kelly, the winsome young nurse. She has worked off-Broadway in New York and played the leading role in last season’s “Enchanted April” Opposite Ms. Garvey, William Daniel Daup of Lewistown plays Dr. Lyman Sanderson. Last year he played the lead in “The Christmas Express” and has worked extensively with the Stone Arch Players and the Boal Barn Playhouse.

The nutty psychiatrist, Dr. Chumley, is played by Rick Lombard of Huntingdon. Mr. Lombard taught Theatre at Huntingdon Area High School for twenty years and has been in many McConnellstown productions, including “Moon Over Buffalo” and last season’s “Soldier, Come Home.”

Shelby Metz of Petersburg is Elwood’s snarky niece, Myrtle Mae. She has appeared locally as Truvy in “Steel Magnolias” and in “Murder at the Howard Johnson’s.”

Keith Sutton of Huntingdon, crustily portraying Judge Gaffney, began his career as Winthrop in “The Music Man” with the Reading Light Opera. A season back, he was Neils Bohr in “Copenhagen”.

Also in the cast of eleven are Susan DeMetrick and Greg DeMetrick, both of State College and veterans of “Arsenic and Old Lace,” plus Sara Jean Brown of Huntingdon, a long-time local theatre favorite.

Jeanne Allen, another Broadway veteran is serving as production coach, and co-director. Miss. Allen has performed extensively at The Playhouse and in New York.

In addition to directing, Daniel Weston limns the role of Duane Wilson, the obstreperous orderly, a role made famous by Jesse White in both the original production and in the movie. Mr. Weston has directed more than seventy productions, and has acted in more than 100 plays at a variety of theaters.

The Playhouse at McConnellstown is located on State Route 26, on the south end of rural McConnellstown, five miles south of Huntingdon and thirty-five miles south of State College. For more about the theater visit www.littletheater.com.

Curtain time is 8pm for evening performances on April 24, 25 and 26, plus May 1, 2, 3. Sunday matinees on April 27 and May 4 are at 2:30 p.m. Reservations can be secured by calling (814) 627-0311.

A comedy chestnut that’s been a crowd-pleaser for 60 years, a frenetic and hilarious English farce, a heart-stopper of a murder mystery, a searing Irish drama and a charmer of a Christmas classic. This is the fare promised to local theatre-goers who venture to the Playhouse at McConnellstown for its 26th season.

Leading off the season and running from April 24th to May 4th is “Harvey”, Mary Chase’s Pulitzer Prize-winning comedy about an invisible rabbit. It will be directed by the Playhouse’s Artistic Director, Dan Weston of Huntingdon.

Ray Cooney’s time-tested English farce “It Runs in the Family” will follow June 19th through the 29th.

The season’s third production, Douglas Post’s “Murder at Green Meadows”, opens on July 31st and will run through August 10th.

Autumn will bring Brian Friel’s soaring Irish drama, “Dancing at Lughnasa”, to open on September 25 and running through October 5th.

Finally, the holiday production will be Jean Shepherd’s “A Christmas Story”, adapted by Philip Grecian from Shepherd’s stories and the eponymous perennial movie classic. It will run from November 14th through November 30th.

The title character in Mary Chase’s Pulitzer Prize-winning comedy classic “Harvey” is, as everybody knows, a Pooka, a six-and-a-half-foot white rabbit invisible to everybody but his stewpot pal, Elwood P. Dowd. Elwood’s sister Veta and his niece Myrtle Mae have had enough of Elwood introducing Harvey to their friends and generally acting like a nut. Their efforts to send him to the funny farm are the basis of the wacky, family-friendly plot of “Harvey”.

Ray Cooney’s farce “It Runs in the Family” spins around a London Hospital three days before Christmas. Dr. Mortimore is to address fellow neurologists who have come from all over the globe to hear him speak. His talk will likely earn him a knighthood. As he struggles to write his speech, a nurse he worked with 19 years ago arrives with a shocking surprise. Mistaken identities, double entendres, puns and cross-dressing promise ensue with high hilarity.

In “Murder at Green Meadows,” Douglas Post weaves his suspense plot around Thomas Devereaux, a successful architect and local contractor, who with his beautiful wife Joan, have just moved into their dream house in the quiet suburban town of Green Meadows. A friendship develops quickly with their new neighbors, Carolyn and Jeff Symons. But beneath the cool exterior, something is truly rotten. The diabolical plot thickens through the final showdown between a murderer and an aggrieved widow.

“Dancing at Lughnasa,” is a drama by Brian Friel. The story is set in Donegal, Ireland, in 1936, just before WW II. It simply relates the life of a family of five single sisters and the love child of one of them. The action is spare, centering on the visit of their brother home from missionary work in Uganda unalterably changed from the experience, on the loss of job by the bread-winning eldest sister, the return of the errant father of the love child, and other daily challenges. This is a searching, soaring play.

“A Christmas Story” is adapted by Philip Grecian from humorist Jean Shepherd’s memoir of growing up in the Midwest in the 1940s. It follows 9-year-old Ralphie Parker on his quest for a genuine Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas. Ralphie pleads his case before his mother, his teacher and even Santa Claus himself.

The consistent response: “You’ll shoot your eye out.” All the elements from the beloved motion picture are here: the temperamental exploding furnace; Scut Farkas, the school bully; the tongue stuck to a cold lamppost; the Little Orphan Annie decoder pin and more. Like the movie, “A Christmas Story” has become a theatrical holiday perennial.

Showtime is 8pm, except for Sunday which is at at 2:30 pm.

The Playhouse is located on Route 26, five miles south of Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, in the village of McConnellstown. Reservations can be made by calling (814) 627-0311.

Well, it’s been a few years since we had a new look — but here it is! I would like to thank everyone who helped — espcially Michael Norell. It’s not often one has the writer of an Emmy winning show helping with content. Also thanks to Terry Ayers and Jeanne Nagurny for their help and thoughts.

Let me know what you think about the site. We will be adding more stuff as time permits. The regulars have finalized a nice season opening with the Pulitzer winner “Harvey” Some funny stuff is going to be on our stage this year. We will soon have some good news about expanded parking and storage for The Playhouse. Since we seem to be selling out most performances, we are adding two performances to the runs — shows will run Thursday through Sunday both weekends (With strike on Monday night) Hopefully we will not have to turn people away in the parking lot this season

See you this summer — Dan Weston.