One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Written By Ken Kesey
Based on the 1962 novel by Ken Kesey, the story is told from the perspective of a Native American man, Chief Bromden, from a defunct Columbia River tribe, who has been committed into a psychiatric hospital in Northern Oregon ruled by the tyrannical, authoritarian head nurse Ratched. After nearly a decade of complicity from Bromden and his fellow patients, a loud, abrasive spark of rebellion enters the ward, led on by a new admission, Randle Patrick McMurphy. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest challenges the strict systems and expectations imposed by society and asks the question, “What does it mean to be ‘crazy’ or ‘normal,’ and who defines these labels?”
Licensed by: Concord Theatricals
Playwright: Dale Wasserman
Director: Benjamin Colby Wilson
Open Auditions: March 14, 2026, 6:00pm to 9:00pm
March 15, 2026, 2:00pm to 5:00pm
No monologues required! Having the sides memorized is preferred! -See Links Below
Headshot(s) and resume strongly encouraged! (doesn’t need to be professional)
ALL parts are available to anyone and everyone regardless of age, gender, sex, or ethnicity!
Opens: May 29, 2026, to June 14, 2026
Friday/Saturday 7:00pm
Sunday 2:00pm
(09 performances)
Cast:
The Patients:
Chief Bromden – An Indigenous man from a defunct tribe that lived along the Columbia River
with schizophrenia triggered by immense trauma. (30’s – 40’s)
Randle Patrick McMurphy – A brawler, gambler, rebel, WW2 veteran, sex maniac, macho,
witty, menace to authority and conformity. Like nature, his sought out order in life is disorder,
anarchy, and individualism. (30’s)
Dale Harding – A scholarly, nervous man with pretty features that presents himself with soft,
gentle expressions. (30’s – 50’s)
Billy Bibbit – Whether in actual age or personality, this stuttering individual presents more like a
boy than a full grown man. (18 – 40’s)
Charles Atkins Cheswick III – A WW2 veteran. All bark and no bite, this man is quick to spark
a conflict or feed into one but is even quicker to flee. (30+)
Frank Scanlon – A weathered WW1 veteran obsessed with bombs, explosives, weaponry, and
war. (50+)
Anthony Martini – A WW2 combat pilot veteran with severe PTSD and schizophrenia. (30+)
Ruckly – A once abrasive and rebellious individual, now a disabled man due to a prefrontal
lobotomy that can only utter obscenities with limited movement. (30+)
The Staff:
Nurse Ratched – An inhuman symbol of authority and control with sociopathic, almost
mechanical characteristics. She was a combat nurse during WW2. (40+)
Aide Warren – A violent and hateful man letting all his violence and hate out on the patients. His
fear for Ratched is apparent, but his respect for her is in short supply. (25+)
Aide Williams – A violent and hateful man letting all his violence and hate out on the patients.
His fear for Ratched is apparent, but his respect for her is in short supply. (25+)
Dr. Spivey – Pathetic and spineless, and possibly on opiates, this man is gullible, easily
influenced, and answers to Ratched’s beck and call. (30+)
Nurse Flinn – A nervous, Catholic girl in training to become a nurse. (18 – 30’s)
Aide Turkle – An insubordinate old man that would never say no to a drink. (50+)
The Girls:
Candy Starr – An extremely young and energetic sex worker. (18 – 20’s)
Sandy – Another sex worker with a rough n’ tough persona. (18+)
