One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

March 21 - April 6, 2008

Written by Dale Wasserman
      Adapted from the novel by Ken Kesey

Directed by Barbara Buck

Based on the best selling novel of the same name, a second-rate convict declares himself insane expecting an easier time in a mental institution than prison.  Much to McMurphy's surprise, his plan is shattered by the iron-fisted Nurse Ratched.  Seeing the injustice created, McMurphy sets out to breathe life, individuality and masculinity back into the submissive patients.  A telling account of the injustices served when oppression rules.

Approximate running time: 2:20 including intermission.

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Director's Notes
 

“Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.”
                                                - Albert Einstein
 

In this era of “Brave New World” sedation, exacerbated by the social isolation of technology, Ken Kesey’s anti-hero still stands a timeless beacon of UN-sanity…not chemically or hormonally imbalanced (insane), nor an upstanding, member of an increasingly dysfunctional, inhuman society (sane!). 

In 1961, the blasphemy of incarcerating prophets was not obvious.  The non-conformist or oddly-mannered threatened the bland, homogenous, spirit-sapping apathy of post WWII American Dreamers.  Blinkered guardians of “normality” gleefully embraced the new “tools” for punishing the unusual and without a second thought, took up the standard of “fact” and used it to beat the hell out of “truth.”  It didn’t take long to forget that, instead of putting the uncomfortable “other” away in institutions, we used to seek their visions.  

Today, with everyone who is anyone on some sort of “anti-“ medication, Kesey’s anti-pharmaceutical messiah may just be the medicine we all need.

Barbara Buck, Director

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