Auditions are opening this weekend for Thibodaux Playhouse’s “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”

Auditions for Thibodaux Playhouse’s first show of the 64th season, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, will begin in four short days!

Read below for the dates of auditions and more information:

• Auditions: Saturday, June 17, 2023 from 10:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m.
• Callbacks: Monday, June 19, 2023 from 6:00 p.m.-10:00 p.m.
• Rehearsals: June 26 – September 14, 2023
• Performances: September 15 – 24, 2023
  • Director: Kristen Rodrigue
  • Stage Manager: Mason Clark
  • Assistant Stage Manager: Zaine Landry

To schedule an audition, please fill out the audition form here. Those auditioning do not need to have anything prepared for the initial audition on Saturday June 17, 2023. You will be given sides and monologues to read at the audition. Casting 12 Male and 4 Female roles. Ethnically diverse cast desired— see casting notes for each character. Must be 18+ to audition due to language and mature themes. The roles are as follows:

• RANDLE P. MCMURPHY: (M, Patient ‐ 20s to 40s, any ethnicity) A gambler, a con man, and a backroom brawler. Has a devilish grin and has a wide open extroverted air which is in harsh contrast to the environment of the ward. Will have kissing scenes and a fight scene. Wears just a towel in another scene. Uses foul language.
• NURSE RATCHED: (F, Staff ‐ 30s to 50s, any ethnicity) The head of the hospital ward. She masks her humanity and femininity behind a stiff, patronizing façade. She weakens her patients through a psychologically manipulative program designed to destroy their self‐esteem. Ratched’s emasculating, mechanical ways slowly drain all traces of humanity from her patients. Will have a fight scene.
• “CHIEF” BROMDEN: (M, Patient ‐ 20s to 50s, Native American) A gigantic, yet docile half-Native American patient who presents himself as deaf and mute. Despite his size and strength, Bromden views himself as being very weak and carries himself like a small man around patients and staff. He has been in the hospital for over ten years, longer than any other patient in 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.
• AIDE WARREN and AIDE WILLIAMS: (M, Staff ‐ 20s to 40s, any ethnicity- BIPOC preferred) The Day Time Aides. Cruel and demeaning, they are Nurse Rached’s stooges. (Fight scenes, both use foul language)
• NURSE FLINN: (F, Staff ‐ 20s To 60s, any ethnicity) A vapid, fearful woman with apprehensive eyes. She wears a gold cross at her throat, a sign of her strict Catholic upbringing. She is fearful of the patients’ sexuality.
• DALE HARDING: (M, Patient ‐ 40 plus, any ethnicity) College‐educated with a sharp mind and tongue. He is President of the Patients’ Council. Although he is married he is effeminate and questions his own masculinity.
• BILLY BIBBIT: (M, Patient ‐ 20s to 30s, any ethnicity) A patient on the ward with a stutter. He is in his 30s but appears younger. He is completely dominated by his mother (a close friend of Nurse Ratched), and committed himself to the hospital voluntarily because he couldn’t handle the outside world. Will have kissing scenes.
• SCANLON: (M, Patient ‐ 20s to 60s, any ethnicity) Involuntarily committed to the hospital. He has fantasies of blowing things up. Uses foul language.
• CHESWICK: (M, Patient ‐ 30s to 60s, any ethnicity) Eager and quick to argue or fight. Aggressively defiant yet cringing. All talk, no action.
• MARTINI: (M, Patient ‐ 25 to 60, any ethnicity) A little Italian man who lives in a world of delusional hallucinations.
• RUCKLY: (M, Patient ‐ 25 to 50, any ethnicity) A Chronic patient. Was once curable, but was transformed into a Chronic due to a botched lobotomy. Uses foul language.
• DR. SPIVEY: (M, Staff ‐ 40 to 70, any ethnicity) The administrator and psychiatrist of the mental institution. He doubts that anything is wrong with McMurphy’s mind, but he defers to the opinion of Nurse Ratched.
• AIDE TURKLE: (M, Staff ‐ 50s to 70s, any ethnicity- BIPOC preferred) The nighttime orderly for Nurse Ratched’s ward. He is an elderly tech / night watchman who smokes marijuana. McMurphy bribes him to help arrange a party in the ward after-hours.
• CANDY STARR: (F, Other ‐ 21 to 40, any ethnicity) A prostitute from Portland with a “heart of gold.” She is physically attractive and passive. Relieves Billy Bibbit of his virginity. Will have kissing scenes.
• SANDRA: (F, Other ‐ 30 ‐ 45, any ethnicity) A prostitute who comes with Candy to the late‐night party. Will have kissing scene.

For more information, please visit Thibodaux Playhouse’s Facebook or website.