On Tuesday evening at Trinity Prep’s Theatre Under The Stars a cast of high school thespians took on the l944 Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway production of “Harvey” and made it their own.

Based on a book by Mary Chase, Josephine Hull and Jimmy Stewart recreated their roles in the l950 film classic. Hull would win an Oscar for supporting actress and Stewart, whose pal Harvey was a 6 foot, l l/2 inch invisible rabbit, got a nomination for his role as Elwood P. Dowd, the kindest and most decent fellow that ever walked the earth.

It’s the story of a gentleman to the core who befriends young and old alike, and despite the fact that he introduces one and all to his invisible friend Harvey, you can’t help loving this amiable man.

Harvey, by the way is a “Pooka,” an old Irish creature out of Celtic folklore, and although we can’t see him, he is there all right and makes Elwood P. Dowd the best friend anyone would ever have.

I won’t give away the plot — it’s yours to enjoy — but the young Trinity actors gave one and all a rousing and heart warming performance.

Julie Brumley as Elwood’s harried sister Veta Louise Simmons, and Megan Quinn as her daughter Myrtle Mae, open the show by deciding to seek phychiatic help for their rather odd relative. At a nearby sanitarium we meet “shrinks”: Doctors Lyman Sanderson (Philip Thornton), protege of the famed Doctor William Chumley (Sean Thornton) and their nurse Ruth Kelly, only medico in the room who seems to know what’s going on, played by Kelly Amodeo, a fine actress.

In the course of the interviews of Elwood, his sister and niece, the wrong person is temporarily incarcerated as the shrinks make all of the decisions, most of them wrong.

One laugh follows another, thanks to the sanitarium’s attendant Duane Wilson (Frank Navarro) who starred in last year’s production of “Cheaper By The Dozen.” Judge Omar Gaffney (Alvin Guevarra), Betty Chumley (Mary Birdsall), Ethel Chauvenet (Elizabeth Figueroa) and, last but not least, EJ Lofgren (Sean Ryan), who plays a cab driver with a New York Jimmy Cagney accent, round out the marvelous cast.

Speaking of accents, Doctors Sanderson and Chumley, (Philip and Sean Thornton) in heated debates sounded like David Niven and Errol Flynn at their finest with those British accents. Great stuff!

Last, but certainly not least, my hat’s off to Anthony Kersting who as Elwood P. Dowd was a fellow you had to love and an actor you’ll long remember and will, I’m sure, enjoy again and again. Throughout the comic bedlam, there was absolute calm and common sense mixed with pathos as Kersting calmed the choppy waters and played his role beautifully  as a decent guy who happened to have an invisisible white rabbit for a friend and advisor.

 When I thought about what I had seen I realized that Elwood P. Dowd, while he enjoyed a drink — or two or three — and loved his invisible companion, was really a decent man who happened to enjoy life and the people — all people — who crossed his path.

A man who gave up a structured life of being smart for the rare quality of being pleasant to young and old alike, rich or poor, it mattered not. Perhaps he was one of those chosen men who simply marched to the beat of a different drummer and what’s wrong with that?

So three cheers to the cast and to Paul Rogers, who directed the work, and sound and stage manager Allan Cravalho and all the Crusaders who handled the scene changes.

Trinity Grammar and Prep will present “Harvey” on tonight, Friday and Saturday starting at 6 p.m. at their Theatre Under The Stars at 2055 Redwood Road, near Solano Avenue and tickes are a modest $5 for adults and $3 for students.