“‘But I tried though,’ he says. ‘Goddammit, I sure as hell did that much, now, didn’t I?’”
When taken out of context, this line from Ken Kesey’s 1962 novel “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” almost eerily sums up the entirety of the book in one fell swoop.
“I think the reason that this book stays a classic is because it is the basic book of man against the machine,” said Jennifer Jenkins, director of theatre arts at Wyoming County Cultural Center at the Dietrich Theater. “Because that’s such a common theme in times like this, with people going through all of the financial hardships that are going on … After Occupy Wall Street, which has sort of gone around the world now, I think that the time is definitely right for something like this.”
Enter Wyoming County Reads: One County, One Book, One Play, a program run by the Dietrich in conjunction with the Tunkhannock Public Library. Residents are encouraged to check out a copy of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” or purchase their own and join weekly discussions that will be held Wednesdays, Feb. 1-22 at the library. There was also a book cover redesign contest that ended in January, the winner of which will be used on posters for the theater’s March production of the stage adaptation of the book.
“One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” takes place in an Oregon asylum and centers on the escapades of Randle Patrick McMurphy, who faked insanity to avoid prison time.
“McMurphy comes in and he challenges the system and everything that has been accepted by the rest of the inmates or the general population, and he keeps putting a test to it,” Jenkins explained. “And the more that he pushes back, the more freedom the rest of the patients of the population attain. However, it ends up to be at his own expense.”
The subject matter might seem a little heavy for a community-wide event like Wyoming County Reads, which is now in its eighth year, but Jenkins noted that there is more to the tome than just questions of human behavior and blind obedience.
“I think there’s a lot of humor in ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,’” she said. “Although the subject matter is, at the core, very serious, the way that it’s approached with the main character is certainly something that gives people a chance to sort of sit back from the material and laugh and breathe a little bit.”
The weekly discussions will be run by Bill Chapla, a former adjunct professor at The University of Scranton and a former high school English teacher, and Dr. Marnie Hiester, department chair and professor of psychology at Misericordia University. The sessions will offer an analytical exploration of the novel, but they go much deeper than just talking about the book, looking at everything from the role McMurphy plays to the contrasts of current and past treatments for mental illness.
“It’s really fun to open it up and let people get a chance to see things in different ways,” Jenkins said.
Each level of Wyoming County Reads is orchestrated to build upon the last and to involve as many members of the community as possible.
“You can get the book, and then you can read that,” Jenkins said. “And then you can go to the discussions, and you can join in with people that have read the book — which I think is always a lot of fun, to be able to talk to people that are reading the same book as you are. And then once you’ve torn that all apart, then you can come and see it live onstage, which I think is just sort of the crowning glory to the whole program.”
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