Thespians take on mental illness

It’s been a year of serious subject matter for the Jay County Thespians.

In the fall, they put on a production of “The Miracle Worker,” which  tells the story of teacher Annie Sullivan helping the deaf and blind child Helen Keller. They performed a piece of that show in competition, placing 12th at the Indiana Thespians state finals.

Now the group is taking on mental illness with “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” with performances scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday as well as 2 p.m. Sunday in the Jay County High School auditorium.

“This is a challenging show. It is not necessarily high school level,” said director Carol Gebert, who none-the-less said she came across it on a list of shows often performed by high school theatre groups. “I thought, wow, that would really be interesting.”

The play, based on a novel by Ken Kensey and made famous by the 1975 film that swept the five major Academy Awards, explores life in a mental institution.

As part of their preparation for the show, students made a trip last month to Richmond State Mental Hospital. That process helped them to learn about various mental illnesses and how to appropriately portray them on stage, with a focus on providing realism rather than caricature.

“We learned about past treatments and more appropriate treatments for patients now,” said senior Mackenzie Currie, noting that the visit included seeing a room that included a former lobotomy station. “In a way, it was really intense because of the things that we learned.

“It helps you get into depth more about your characters, because then you can understand their illness more and understand how to not make fun of their illness.”

“We have worked really hard to play believable characters and not mock the mentally disabled,” added Gebert. “That’s been super important to us. … We want to make sure it’s sincere, it’s believable.”

After portraying Annie Sullivan in “The Miracle Worker” — she was also Mrs. Potts in the school’s production of “Beauty and the Beast” in November — Currie is taking on the role of Randle McMurphy, made famous by Jack Nicholson in the film. She said she’s spent a lot of time trying to make her portrayal of the male protagonist believable.

It’s a different challenge than she faced during the fall play, and not just because she’s playing against gender.

“Character-wise, it’s a lot tougher,” said Currie. “McMurphy is more independent. Where Annie was strict, she still had rules to follow. When you’re McMurphy, you have no rules. You can go as far as you want, as deep as you want …”

Currie plays opposite junior Lynsey Leeson as Nurse Ratched, whose objective is to keep the patients under control via medication and intimidation.

Tickets to the show are $5 and will be available at the door this weekend. Though the version of the show is “tamed down” from the original play and the movie, Gebert noted that she rates it PG-13 for some language and mature themes.

“As the kids say, ‘It’s hilarious until it’s not,’” she said. “It gets dark fast.”