Dave Barker plays Elwood P. Dowd in Redbud Productions' staging of "Harvey," about a man whose best friend is an invisible, six-foot-tall white rabbit.

For an imaginary character, the six-foot white rabbit at the center of “Harvey” — now being staged by Redbud Productions — casts a rather large shadow.

Mary Chase’s Broadway hit comedy, which ran for five years after its 1944 premiere, won the Pulitzer Prize for drama, beating out Tennessee Williams’ “The Glass Menagerie.” (That’s one powerful pretend bunny.)

The play tells the story of a gentle, lovable man named Elwood P. Dowd, whose best friend is Harvey — a tall rabbit no one else can see. When the embarrassed, society-conscious members of Elwood’s family try to have him committed, he escapes, and madcap misunderstandings ensue.

“I think I’ve loved ‘Harvey’ forever,” said Loretta Grimes, director of Redbud’s production. “I thought that with the way the economy is right now — we know so many people who are out of work, and have lost their jobs. We know people who have filed for bankruptcy and had their homes foreclosed. We thought it was time for a warm, innocent, sweet play.”

Grimes, in fact, sees many similarities between now and the mid-1940s, when “Harvey” first, ahem, "appeared."

“It was an unsettling time,” said Grimes. “People were thirsting for something that was light and fun and warm, and I think that’s where we are again.”

Chase, a Denver-based journalist-turned-playwright, seemed to create the story of “Harvey” from various things she heard while growing up.

“Her uncle used to tell her all these stories about mystical animals in Celtic mythology called pucas, and her mother would always tell her be kind to people who seemed a little crazy, because many of them had wisdom to teach us,” said Grimes. “So it’s interesting to see how she combined both of those themes, bringing about the character of Elwood.”

Chase worked the play out on a small, four-foot stage, editing the play dozens of times until she got it exactly the way she wanted it.

And while the classic comedy is often revived on stage, most of us are more familiar with the faithful screen adaptation from 1950, starring the inimitable Jimmy Stewart — who casts a considerable shadow in his own right, of course.

“David (Barker, who plays Elwood in Redbud’s production) said, early on, ‘Every time I say a line, I hear Jimmy Stewart saying it,’” said Grimes.

PREVIEW “Harvey” Who: Redbud Productions. What: Mary Chase’s Pulitzer Prize-winning comedy about a man, Elwood, whose best friend is an imaginary, six foot, three inch white rabbit named Harvey. Where: Riverside Arts Center, 76 N. Huron St. in Ypsilanti. When: 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday; and 2 p.m. Sunday, October 22-25 only. How much: $18 ($15 for students and seniors). Info: 734-663-7167.

Jenn McKee is the entertainment digital journalist for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at jennmckee@annarbor.com or 734-623-2546, and follow her on Twitter @jennmckee.