By Riley Jones

As the year comes to a close, our theater department has finished its final show. Putting together a play requires work, time and dedication behind-the-scenes that viewers often never see. However, with this play, we can take a peek behind the curtain into the thoughts, bonding moments and traditions of Woodward’s theatre department.

“One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” is a play by Dale Wasserman based on the novel by Ken Kesey, and is set in a mental asylum. The play debuted on Broadway in 1963. This year, on April 3, 4 and 5, the Performance Ensemble shortened the play down to one act for their final showcase of the year. For the seniors of the Performance Ensemble, “Cuckoo’s Nest” was the last performance of their Upper School careers. It’s an emotional watch that covers a variety of serious issues from mental health to past failures of the medical system and the exploitation of Native Americans. Working on such a complex play, the actors had many favorite parts, both in the message and the process of performing.

TJ Harris ’25, who played the lead, Randall McMurphy, found that the funny moments alongside the serious storyline were his favorite part of “Cuckoo’s Nest.”

“Throughout the play even though it’s deep and things are serious, we’re able to find the funny moments and… make the audience laugh,” TJ said. “Throughout the play, it takes you on kind of an emotional rollercoaster and educates you in the same sense.”

Additionally, Daniel McCall ’25, who played Billy Bibbit, one of the ward patients, found that he also enjoyed the emotional quality and serious material of the show.

“My favorite part about this show is that it discusses such real material that is very deep and introspective [and] leaves the audience… with strong feelings by the end,” Daniel said.

Putting on such a complex storyline can invoke feelings in the audience as well as the actors. It can expose people to stories and perspectives they may have never known before. Daniel also found that the storytelling possible in shows was one of his favorite parts about theater in general.

“My favorite part about being in theater in general is being able to tell stories that I wouldn’t have been able to tell in everyday life,” Daniel said.

Other members of the cast Danny Morrison ’25 and Eden Luse ’25 enjoyed the set and quick tone shifts of “Cuckoo’s Nest.”

“I was going to say the set [was my favorite part of the play] because the set’s amazing, but I love the way that it [the play] changes from comedic to dramatic really quickly,” Danny said. “I like how we’re able to kind of… play with that and go really comedic and then switch into really dramatic. I think it really works… as strange as that would be.”

Eden played the show’s antagonist, Nurse Ratched, and spent lots of time at the nurse’s station on set. She describes the station as very personalized, with a multitude of small but meaningful details included.

“I really like the nurse’s station, me personally, because I spent a lot of time back there so a lot of things back there are really personalized,” Eden said. “We have, like, pencils that kind of match the vibe of the 60s… [and] different types of patient records back there as well. We also have real Tic Tacs that the patients take for medication.”

The cast had a hand in designing the set as well. Danny Morrison played Dale Harding, the president of the Patients’ Council at the institution where the play is set. He recounts his experience working with Mr. John Brandhorst, who is in his first year as Woodward’s technical theatre director after many years working in the fine arts at Midtown High School.

“He came up to us and said ‘Hey, what do you think would be good? Where do you want, like, the nurse’s station? Where do you think all this stuff should be?’ and then took our… input and basically built all of this pretty much himself in a very short amount of time,” Danny said. “He’s very impressive.”

Along with the set, another key backstage process is also present in costume design. Daniel McCall ’25 describes costume designing as a very collaborative process.

“Ms. B [Barnhart] and Ms. Greenway, they come up with the ultimate plan of the costume, the base, [and] the structure of how they want it to look,” Daniel said. “Then from there, if there’s anything that we would like to add, we can.” 

Daniel recalled how a fellow castmate, Joshua Byrom ’25, who played Anthony Martini, another ward patient, was able to add a personal touch to his costume during the design process.

“It’s a very collaborative space so we’re able to have input on our costumes or anything like that,” Daniel said. “Anything that we don’t feel comfortable with we’re able to say ‘Oh no I don’t want to add that.’ Like Josh right here, he was able to add… to his costume because he was like ‘Hey can I add it?’ and they were like yeah.’”

Once the stage is set and the costumes are ready, the actors start getting ready for the actual show and run through their pre-show traditions. TJ Harris ’25 draws from the Meisner technique to help him practice and prepare for going on stage.

“We learned this in advanced acting my sophomore year, but it’s something called Meisner, where you say a line… over and over in, like, a much different way,” TJ said. “I think doing that as I was rehearsing at home, like helped me find oh my character would say it this way, or he would say it this way, or he would pause and then say the rest of the line, or something like that.”

A foundation in acting techniques like Meisner can be useful when trying to prepare for a show, but, for some actors, personal exercises have an impact as well. Daniel finds that grounding himself helps to get into character.

“I like to get in costume, and then, while I’m in the dressing room, I really like to ground myself and breathe,” Daniel said. “I think breathing is really an important part so I can feel in tune with every part of my body physically, spiritually, emotionally, mentally and really being into that character.”

Group exercises also occupy a slot in the pre-show tradition. Actors play games and do speaking exercises to prepare for their scenes and upcoming performances.

“We do group breathing together, and we go over tongue twisters together to make sure that our annunciation is where it needs to be to perform great for the show,” Daniel said. “We play a lot of energetic games. Like we play this game called Little Sally, where we all go in a circle and we dance and like the other person has to copy the dance move.”

Some actors have practiced the same tradition for years. Eden Luse keeps up her tradition of getting Chick-fil-A every show.

“Me personally, I have to eat Chick-fil-A before every show so that’s where I just came back from,” Eden said. “Then I do my makeup for about like 15 minutes and… I get my mind ready. Right before I go on stage I actually, like, completely detach and meditate before which helps me get, like, really focused on my lines.”

Of course, this article wouldn’t be behind-the-scenes if we didn’t get an account of the backstage. After all, even once the show begins, the preparations–so that the show can go on and on–are manifold. According to Eden and Danny, backstage on set is a hectic, but fun environment.

“There’s a ton of props for this show and for a lot of shows, and basically what we have to do is, we have to run to and from all these different places gathering props,” Danny said. “And there’s a bunch of people running around: ‘Oh my god, I can’t find the keys, where’s the keys? where’s the toothbrush, oh he already has the toothbrush.’”

Although navigating the tight spaces and movement backstage can be challenging, the experience is still something fun for actors to look back on. TJ found he made many funny memories in his time backstage.

“My favorite part is the funny moments that we have,” TJ said. “Like, I had a quick change and I had to change in, like, 15 to 20 seconds and like I spilled my eyedrops, [and] I kicked my water bottle over and it made a little noise during the scene change.”

The memories made backstage are not only something fun to look back on but also help during a show. For TJ, these moments took away some stress and improved his performance.

“I feel like it helps me act better on stage,” TJ said. “Like it takes away some of the stress that you’re having when you’re trying to memorize your lines and things like that.”

Between the short turnaround time and shared theatre experiences, this cast has also formed close bonds working on this play. Danny noted that the cast members built strong relationships through their experiences working together. 

“Our lead, McMurphy, our doctor Spivey, and I were also on the bio trip,” Danny said. “That was the week before opening night, so we’ve had to really lock in and work together to get the show right in the kind of short-ish amount of time we had… I think that definitely increased the camaraderie.”