By JOYANNA LOVE/ Senior Staff Writer

The Chilton County High School Drama Club is stepping up its performance skills as it prepares for “Harvey” by Mary Chase.

A performance open to the public will be given on April 28 at 6 p.m. in the Chilton County High School auditorium, 1214 Seventh Street South in Clanton. Tickets are $5.

Xander McNeal, who is playing Dr. Lyman Sanderson, said the play is different from what the drama club has done in the past.

“It’s a comedy, but it has a more serious take to it, and having more of a serious role for everyone is a new experience and I love it,” McNeal said.

He said the play is helping students show what other kinds of acting they can do.

“I love how the comedy in it is so quick-witted and just very quaint,” stage manager Grace Tuell said.

She said the play is very relatable.

“I am looking forward to the audience’s reactions,” McNeal said.

Sanderson has an office romance with Nurse Kelly.

“During the play, we are trying to find two characters, Elwood and his sister Veta, and is really just the chaos of me, Kelly and everybody trying to find Elwood and Veta,” McNeal said.

Tana Curtis is playing Nurse Kelly. Curtis said she enjoys the part because the character is very different than herself.

“I think it’s interesting to be someone who is different than me rather than someone I could portray more easily,” Curtis said.

She said she has her lines with her at all times, so she can work on memorizing them whenever she has a minute.

Jordan Adams is playing Elwood Dowd.

“Whenever I heard we were doing this and I looked at a portion of the script … I wanted this part because my favorite classic film actor, as in pre-1970s, is James Stewart and he played the role I have,” Adams said.

He enjoyed working on the play because it gave him the chance to get to know and interact with a new group of people.

Adams described his character as “a naive-type guy, very sort-of charming optimistic.”

Regan Powell, who is playing the house keeper Miss Johnson, said enjoyed working with the other students and helping with the set design.

“The scenes are really fun,” Powell said.

Powell said the cast and crew watched “an older version of Harvey, so we could get ideas of what it would look like.”

Tony To, who is playing Wilson, said he is enjoying playing an angry character, “but deep down you can tell he really cares about people, especially his boss.”

To said he likes making people laugh during comedy plays.

Sarah Beth Huntley is playing Myrtle May.

“My character basically just wants her uncle to go away, or something bad to happen to him because he has this imaginary friend, she can’t really have a social life,” Huntley said. “Back then, all girls cared about was having a social life and marrying well.”

She said she has enjoyed working with the team because they have similar interests.

Huntley said she liked that the drama club was doing a full-length play this time rather than a collection of vignettes.

“We are really getting to delve into the theater world,” Huntley said.

McNeal said set and movement on stage is also more complex than past performances.

Tuell said it has been challenging to have everyone together at the same time and working out details of the set. To agreed.

“It is a lot of hard work, but we have a lot of hard workers,” Tuell said. “It is going to turn out really great.”

The CCHS Drama Club is led by drama teacher Kay Tippett.