Press Releases

Winfield, Kan., July 1, 2002 — Southwestern College Horsefeathers and Applesauce Summer Dinner Theatre is known for its fun family productions that bring grand-scale musicals, slap-stick comedy, and an occasional Shakespeare play to the Messenger Recital Hall stage. Occasionally though, tucked into the four-show season is a dramatically-challenging, thought-provoking show like “To Kill a Mockingbird” or “Miracle Worker.”

This year’s presentation of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” is such a show.

It is scheduled for Friday through Sunday, July 5-7, and Thursday through Saturday, July 11-13. Show time is 8 p.m. A 6:30 dinner precedes the show.

The show is set in a secured mental hospital where R. P. McMurphy, played by Ryan Kathman, is serving time for a crime. The sly criminal planned on comfort instead of the usual prison cell when he convinced jurors he was not mentally competent to be confined in a prison.

When he finds out the hospital lacks the freedom and comfort he expected, he instigates a revolt among the patients — some who suffer with mental conditions that have stumped doctors — and a cataclysmic power struggle against the hospital staff ensues.

The results bring healing and growth for some, and shocking tragedy for himself.

“This show typifies the uprisings against authority and the status quo that were seen in the ’60s,” says director Roger Moon. “McMurphy challenges the way these mental patients are treated, but those in power will not loosen control.”

For such a show, dinner is a challenge. Allyson Moon, managing director of H & A has met the challenge with creativity. R. P. McMurphy’s party on the ward will be served on institutional trays to help set the mood of the story. An appetizer of cranberry/apple punch, mixed nuts, and M & Ms will precede a dinner of gourmet cheese and chopped sirloin burgers, French onion soup, potato wedges, and garden slaw. Cartons of milk and chocolate milk are available (served with straws) along with coffee, water, and tea. A dessert of fudge devil’s food layered cake will complete the meal.

Dinner theatre tickets are $24 for adults and $16 for youth 12 and under. Show only tickets are $12 for adults and $5 for youth. Call the H & A box office at (620) 221-7720.