'Harvey' To Open Quogue Troupe's 30th Season

It all began with lead actor Matthew Conlon and a fortuitous glance upward.

He could just make out an outline scratched into the backstage ceiling of the Quogue Community Hall, left behind by last summer’s junior theater students. With two large ears, it was unmistakable.

“You have to come back here!” Mr. Conlon had called out to director Diana Marbury. “You have to see this. You’re not going to believe it.”

Ms. Marbury made her way behind the curtain and turned her attention to the etched rabbit in the ceiling.

She couldn’t help but laugh.

There, marking the start of rehearsal for “Harvey”—the circa-1944 comedy, opening Hampton Theatre Company’s 30th season on Thursday, October 23, about the mayhem caused by a friendship between Elwood P. Dowd and his 6-foot-3½-inch-tall invisible, anthropomorphic rabbit—was their very own not-so-imaginary púca.

“It’s just bizarre. That was right at the beginning of all this, so we knew we were going in the right direction,” Ms. Marbury said on Monday during a telephone interview, explaining that a púca is a creature of folklore and, in this case, one that Elwood introduces everywhere he goes as Harvey. “Since then, rabbits have just been coming and going in everyone’s lives.”

The Pulitzer Prize Award-winning play—which has been sitting on the HTC back burner for a number of years, according to Ms. Marbury—follows the generous, giving, kind-hearted Elwood (Mr. Conlon) and Harvey, who exists much to the dismay of his sister, Veta (Pamela Kern). She decides to commit him, or them, to a sanitarium to spare her the embarrassment, which does not go as planned. She soon learns that Harvey can disappear, but only if her brother is given an injection that turns him into a perfectly normal human being—wiping all of the good, and whimsical, away.

“There’s something very dear about the premise of having this púca guiding you along, letting you know what’s going to happen before it happens, giving you insight into what’s going on in your life,” Ms. Marbury said.

She paused, and continued, “We feel we’ve had púca on our side. And we’re hoping he’ll stay with us right through production.”

Hampton Theatre Company will open its 30th season with “Harvey” on Thursday, October 23, at 7 p.m. at Quogue Community Hall. Additional performances will be held through November 9 on Thursdays and Fridays at 7 p.m., Saturdays at 8 p.m., and Sundays at 2:30 p.m. Tickets are $25, $23 for seniors (except Saturdays), and $10 for students under age 21. For more information, call (631) 653-8955, or visit hamptontheatre.org.