One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
by Gaslight Baker Theatre
Jun. 06 - Jun. 08 (2020)
A mordant, wickedly subversive parable set in a mental ward, the play chronicles the head-on collision between its hell-raising, life-affirming hero Randle Patrick McMurphy and the totalitarian rule of Nurse Ratched. McMurphy swaggers into the mental ward like a blast of fresh air and turns the place upside down, starting a gambling operation, smuggling in wine and women, and egging on the other patients to join him in open rebellion. But McMurphy's revolution against Nurse Ratched and everything she stands for quickly turns from sport to a fierce power struggle with shattering results.
The Gaslight Baker Theatre in Lockhart will be holding online auditions for One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by Dale Wasserman, based on the novel by Ken Kesey. The show will be directed by Ameer Mobarak and is slated to run August 14-29.
Auditions dates: Saturday, June 6, from 2 pm to 6 pm, and Tuesday, June 8, from 7 pm to 10 pm.
The auditions will consist of cold readings from the script. Please email ameer.mobarak@gmail.com with your preferred date of audition and to request a time slot. Since these auditions will take place online via Zoom, an audition form will be emailed to you. Please fill out this form and email it back prior to your audition time. You will then receive an invite for the online audition.
Please note: We are monitoring the COVID-19 situation closely. Though we are planning to run this show as scheduled, if conditions make that unsafe, we will postpone this show to a later date, possibly next season.
All Roles are Available
Characters:
RANDLE P. MCMURPHY – (M, Patient) A gambler and con man. Has a wide-open, extroverted air that is in harsh contrast to the environment of the ward. He serves as the dominant force challenging the establishment and the ultimate savior of the victimized patients.
NURSE RATCHED – (F, Staff) The head of the hospital ward. She masks her humanity and femininity behind a stiff, patronizing façade. She weakens her patients through a psychologically manipulative program designed to destroy their self-esteem.
CHIEF BROMDEN – (M, Patient) The huge, bull-muscled son of an Indian chief. He has been in the hospital for ten years, longer than any other patient in the ward. Bromden sees modern society as a huge, oppressive conglomeration that he calls the Combine, and the hospital as a place meant to fix people who do not conform.
DALE HARDING – (M, Patient) College-educated with a sharp tongue. He is president of the Patients’ Council. Although he is married, he is a homosexual. He has difficulty dealing with the overwhelming social prejudice against homosexuals, so he hides in the hospital voluntarily.
BILLY BIBBIT – (M, Patient) Shy and has a bad stutter. He seems younger than his age. Dominated by his mother, one of Nurse Ratched’s close friends. Billy is voluntarily in the hospital, as he is afraid of the outside world.
SCANLON – (M, Patient) Involuntarily committed to the hospital. He has fantasies of blowing things up.
CHESWICK – (M, Patient) Eager and quick to argue or fight. Aggressively defiant yet cringing. All talk, no action.
MARTINI – (M, Patient) A man who lives in a world of delusional hallucinations.
RUCKLY – (M, Patient) A Chronic patient. Was once curable, but was transformed into a Chronic due to a botched lobotomy.
SPIVEY – (M, Staff) The administrator of the mental institution. He is a calm, mature gray-haired doctor. He doubts that anything is wrong with McMurphy’s mind, but he defers to the opinion of Nurse Ratched.
AIDE TURKLE – (M, Staff) The nighttime orderly for Nurse Ratched’s ward. He is easygoing and kind.
CANDY STARR and SANDRA – (F, Other) Two carefree woman. They come to the ward for a late-night party that McMurphy arranges.
AIDE WARREN and AIDE WILLIAMS – (M, Staff) The daytime aides.
NURSE FLINN – (F, Staff) A vapid girl with apprehensive eyes. She wears a gold cross at her throat, a sign of her strict Catholic upbringing. She is fearful of the patients’ sexuality.
