Stage Coach Players’ performances of ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’ begin April 18

DeKALB – The Stage Coach Players is set to open its next production, the drama “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” on Thursday.

The play is scheduled to run for two weeks.

“One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” tells the story of Randle McMurphy, a rebel who fakes insanity to serve his prison sentence at a psychiatric ward. The ward is ruled with absolute authority by Nurse Ratched.

McMurphy antagonizes Ratched and encourages the patients to stand up for themselves. The antagonism culminates in an unsanctioned party at the ward with prostitutes. Ratched arrives to find the ward a disaster, patients passed out and one patient – Billy Bibbit – in one of the woman’s arms.

McMurphy ends up helping the fellow patients find their own voices.

The cast includes Steve Becker as McMurphy and Lacey Toigo as Nurse Ratched. The rest of the cast features Mike Anderson, John Davis, Mike Groark, Michael Hynek, John McNally, Taylor Miller, Skylar Montavon, Bill O’Hagan, Stewie Simons, Steve Sturm, Chris Swedberg and Tasha Yunker.

“One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” is based on the 1963 play by Dale Wasserman and the 1962 novel by Ken Kesey of the same name. The Stage Coach production will be directed by Scott Montavon, who directed the Stage Coach production of “The Red Velvet Cake Wars” in 2021.

Performances of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” will be at 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and April 26 and 27 at the Stage Coach Theatre, 126 S. Fifth St., DeKalb. Matinee performances will be at 2 p.m. Sunday and April 28.

Tickets cost $15 for seniors 65 and older and children ages 13 and younger, and $17 for everyone else. Tickets are on sale at stagecoachplayers.com or through the box office at 815-758-1940. The box office will open April 14.