Open auditions for Dale Wasserman’s adaptation of Ken Kesey’s novel One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest will be held Saturday Oct. 31 From 1:30 – 4:30 p.m.
CASTING:
13 men
4 women
One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest will be directed by Tom Taylor.
Chief Bromden (Male Supporting) Any age, Aboriginal role, tall/big Seemingly deaf and dumb Chief is the Narrator of the play. He suffers from paranoia and hallucinations and has received multiple electroshock treatments. He has been hospitalized for 10 years, longer than any of the other patients on 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. McMurphy is the only one who gets through to him. Bromden’s dream sequences are key pieces in the play.
Aide Warren (Male Supporting) All Ethnicities, in the play described as African American. Works for Nurse Ratched. Represents racism in the 1960s America
Aide Wiliams (Male Supporting) All Ethnicities, in the play described as African American. Works for Nurse Ratched. Represents racism in the 1960s America
Randle McMurphy (Male Lead) The play’s protagonist. He is a fun-loving con man, gambler, backroom brawler. He is scarred. He was sentenced to six months in a prison work farm, and thought the hospital would be more a comfortable place to do time. McMurphy serves as the unlikely “Christ” figure – the dominant force of challenging the establishment and the ultimate saviour of the victimized patients.
Nurse Ratched (Female Lead) Head of the hospital ward, authoritative and insistent on order. She is the play’s antagonist. She rules her ward with an iron fist and masks her humanity and femininity behind a stiff façade. Uses a lot of psychological manipulation on her patients.
Nurse Flinn (Female Supporting) Nurse who works for Nurse Ratched, perpetually frightened and attractive, deeply religious.
Dale Harding (Male Supporting) Ward patient, acerbic, college educated. Harding helps McMurphy understand the realities of the hospital. Effeminate man who is psychologically “castrated”, who committed himself to the hospital.
Ruckley (Male Supporting) Ward patient, who was once an acute; excessive electroshock therapy transformed him into a chronic.
Billy Babbit (Male Supporting) Ward patient, late 20s early 30s, shy, stutters, dominated by his mother. He is unmarried and a virgin.
Scanlon (Male Supporting) Ward patient, the only acute other than McMurphy who was involuntary commited to the hospital, he fantizes about blowing things up.
Cheswick (Male Supporting) Ward patient, one of the acutes, who is always looking for someone to back up his ideas.
Martini (Male Supporting) Ward patient, delusional who laughs at himself and the world around him.
Dr. Spivey (Male Supporting) The doctor on the ward. Bends to the will of Nurse Ratched.
Aide Turkle (Male Supporting) All Ethnicities; in novel is elderly African American staff on the ward; is bribed by McMurphy to help arrange the ward party.
Candy Starr (Female Supporting) A prostitute from Portland with a “heart of gold”; physically attractive and passive.
Sandra (Female Supporting) – Candy’s older less attractive friend. Comes with her to a party on the ward.