Old Taos Players
P.O. Box 3040
Ranchos de Taos
NM 87557
505-758-8900


NEWS RELEASE :

Media Contact : Andrew Flack, Buzz, Inc. 505-758-8900

WHO : Old Taos Players
WHAT : One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
WHEN : June 10, 11, 12, 15, 16, 17, 18 at 8pm
WHERE : Taos Community Auditorium, 133 Paseo del Pueblo Norte
TICKET : $12 in advance, $15 at the door
BOX OFFICE : TCA 505-758-2052 or FX 18 Gifts & Jewelry, 140 Kit Carson Rd, Taos, NM

It's The Big Chief's Play in Old Taos Players'
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Stage version of Ken Kesey's novel offers a worldview through Native American eyes

Taos Pueblo musician, artist and actor, Robert Mirabal, plays Big Chief

TAOS, NM (May 17, 2005)-In the movie version of Ken Kesey's novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Jack Nicholson's character, R.P. McMurphy, is the hell-raising human dynamo at the story's center, and through whose eyes we see the world. In the stage play, however, adapted in 1962 by Dale Wasserman, it's Chief Bromden whose life on a psychiatric ward is brought into focus, giving us a rare, theatrical glimpse of a contemporary Native American point of view.

To play this pivotal and powerful role, Old Taos Players are pleased to announce that Robert Mirabal, Taos Pueblo musician and artist, will play the role of Big Chief Bromden. Mirabal reprises this role 20 years after playing it as a 17-year old Taos High School student. In the intervening years, Robert has gone on to tour the world as a musician and storyteller, and has twice won the Native American Songwriter of the Year Award. He recently finished his first novel with a grant from the School of American Research in Santa Fe and in April toured with the seminal rock ensemble, The Doors.

"This play is like the bookends of my life up to this point," Mirabal says. "The end of one phase and the beginning of another. In 1984 I had been a dancer but this play was my first real professional role as an actor in a community production. The seed was planted then to become an actor and performer, and those who have followed my career have seen that seed blossom in the winds of time and change."

Mirabal was enticed to join this Old Taos Players production at the behest of David Garver, one of Taos' most active and best-known actors. The two met in '84 while doing Cuckoo's Nest at the TCA and have remained close friends over the years. Garver, who played Billy Bibbit in that production, is playing R. P. McMurphy this time around, and Taos newcomer, Barbara Duff, will play Nurse Ratched.

Ron Usherwood, another long-time Garver collaborator, and Taos' most experienced director, is directing the 16-character ensemble piece. In the 20-plus years that Usherwood has been in Taos, he has directed dozens of shows, including Equus, Fool for Love and Cabaret.

"Cuckoo's Nest is a great piece of theatre," says Usherwood. "The movie was a vehicle for Nicholson to win the Oscar, but the play puts the Chief at the center of the drama. Here is the story of a man who has been beaten down and stripped of his identity by "The Combine," society's system of humiliation and control. Enter R.P. McMurphy and the scales begin to tip: authority is challenged, fears are confronted, and freedom becomes a possibility."

Usherwood believes the play's themes are especially relevant given the political tenor of the times. "In large part, we are a society now driven by fear and growing governmental control. There are fewer freedoms and more barriers in everyday life. The Chief embodies this condition in the extreme, and his eventual triumph and run to freedom give Cuckoo's Nest its uplifting appeal."

Working with Robert Mirabal has also brought an authenticity to the role of Big Chief that Usherwood says will make this production one to remember. "Because of Robert's Native American traditions, he brings deeply held beliefs and a spiritual connection to nature and the world around him that mirror those of the character. As a performer, Robert possesses great talent and a monumental presence. This opportunity to see him play Big Chief should not be missed."