STERLING — The title “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” is best known for the 1975 Academy Award winning movie starring Jack Nicholson but the story actually started as a novel and then a Broadway play. Sterling College Theatre audiences will have the chance to see the play version by Dale Wasserman based on the novel by Ken Kesey at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, March 12 and 13, in Culbertson Auditorium. 

Set in the early 1960s, the play focuses on Randal McMurphy, a patient in a hospital for the criminally insane, and his clashes with the ward’s cold hearted, manipulative nurse, Mildred Ratched. Randal, a swaggering, rebellious Irishman is determined to break Ratched’s hold over his fellow inmates. 

McMurphy succeeds in cracking Ratched’s calm exterior, and the other inmates begin to look to him as their leader. However, McMurphy’s victory is tarnished when he realizes he will never leave the hospital until Ratched decides he is cured. In the end the fate of every man in the ward will be determined by whether Ratched’s use of shame and fear or McMurphy’s belief in liberation wins their hearts and minds. 

The 17-member cast will be led by senior Ian Diaz from Bayamon, Puerto Rico who will portray Randal P. McMurphy. Chief Bromden, who acts as the narrator, will be played by sophomore Nicholas Amezola of Corona, Calif. Nurse Ratched will be played by Ava Brooks, a junior from Sterling. 

Torey Wilson, a sophomore from Rural Hall, NC will play Billy Babbit. Sophomore Shiann Stewart of Ft Worth, Texas, will play Candy Starr. Dr. Spivey will be played by Micah Bachert of Bloomfield, N.M.  Jake Pieplow of Sterling will play Dale Harding. Scanlon, Cheswick and Martini will be played by Nilo Reynoso of Long Beach Calif., Luke Harding of Sterling, and Kedric Spurgin of Pratt. 

All performances of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” will take place in Culbertson Auditorium on the Sterling College campus. Social distancing and masks for audience members will be required. Tickets will be $10 for adults and $5 for seniors and students. Tickets will be available online beginning March 8 at sterling-college.ticketleap.com and at the door before each performance. Due to strong language and adult themes, this show is not appropriate for children under 13.