The Lake County Theatre Co. is presenting “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest” at the Gard Street School in Kelseyville for three weekends, and there are more performances to go on Friday, March 8, through Sunday, March 10.

I went to opening night, which I rarely do, and I didn’t regret it. I have been disappointed in the past on opening nights by incompletely rehearsed plays, but this was an exception to that, and if the LCTC keeps up this kind of self-discipline, opening night crowds should increase.

I went to see it without having seen the movie (1975) or the play (1963,) or having read the book (1962), so I was spared the distraction of comparing the local production with any of those.

Most people say that the play is very different from the movie, and both very different from the book. The novel was the 20th in a list of the 100 best books of the 20th century, the movie won a number of Oscars and the play was a prize-winner on Broadway.

Being around 70, I remember the furor that Ken Kesey’s bestseller caused when it was published. It was a blazing indictment of the psychiatric institutions of the time, and the methods of mind control used then (and to some extent still) in such places, mostly just to keep the inmates quiet and obedient.

That these methods, including heavy drugging, electro-shock and prefrontal lobotomy, had little or no therapeutic value was a hot topic then, and the discussions in the public arena led to the closing of most mental hospitals in California and the rest of the country in the 1970s.

I remember hearing from my friends that it was a very funny book. It is a funny play. The humor comes mostly from the wit of the leading characters. Insanity is not in itself amusing. If anyone close to you was ever seriously disturbed, you know that they, and all who cared for them, were deeply miserable.

It is not a situation comedy. The plot line is a tragedy, in that the hero, not insane, is destroyed by his own strengths and weaknesses interacting with the institution around him, but there is almost continuous farce on the way to the denouement. The cast performs this tricky balancing act, and the direction is very good. You will laugh and laugh and laugh and in the end you will be shocked and sad.

Armand Plato, the director, is a fresh face around here, but he has been directing small theater productions elsewhere for years, and he has a fine touch.

There are some actors that we have not seen much of before, such as Larry and Zoe Richardson, who we know primarily as very talented dancers. I admire the whole cast, so I will not be itemizing them. Go see the play and take the program home; they are all displayed in it, with photos and much more information than I want to include here.

Tim Barnes as R. P. McMurphy plays the lead with great energy and wit, which is no surprise. The biggest surprise in this cast is Diana Schmidt. We have seen her so often as a ditzy blond bombshell, and to see her here as Nurse Ratched, who is self-righteous, clever, controlling and just generally all-around mean, is quite an illumination. She was in danger of being type-cast. Now we all know better.

Clearly, since I am writing about it at all, I feel that I can recommend this play; I don’t write about productions I can’t recommend. For all the laughter, it is a serious play, and a work of art.

Christian Yeagan is a member of the Lake County Arts Council.

CLEARLAKE, Calif. – On March 10, Second Sunday Cinema will screen “Forks Over Knives,” a well-made and well-respected film on the healthy benefits of a plant-based diet.

The free film will be shown at Clearlake United Methodist Church at 14521 Pearl Ave., Clearlake. Doors at 5:30 p.m., with the film beginning at 6 p.m.

We’re all paying through the nose for health care, yet we keep getting sicker. Diabetes, heart disease and cancer are rampant, affecting millions of us every year and costing billions.

“Forks Over Knives” shows us how we may prevent, control, and even reverse these serious “lifestyle” diseases without taking toxic chemical “medicines” for which we dearly pay.

The film has been lauded by Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Dr. Mehmet Oz, film critic Roger Ebert and filmmaker James Cameron.

Dr. Will Tuttle, a warm and inviting speaker, will introduce the film and will share information in question and answer session afterwards.

Vegan chef extraordinaire Lori Patotzka will bring scrumptious vegan snacks to share.

For more information call 707-889-7355.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – Bob Culbertson will celebrate the release of his latest CD “Celtic Waters” with guest artists percussionist Rick Alegria and cellist Clovice Lewis during a performance at the Soper-Reese Community Theatre on Saturday, March 16.

The show will take place beginning at 7 p.m. at the theater, located at 275 S. Main St.

Culbertson is a virtuoso who has spent 30 years cultivating his unique sound on the 10 or 12 string  Chapman Stick.  

He’s hailed as one of the world’s finest one touch guitarists.

Tickets cost $18 per person and are available online at www.soperreesetheatre.com ; at the box office on Fridays from 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; at the door the night of the show; and at The Travel Center in Lakeport, 1265 S. Main St., 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Lake County Friends of Mendocino College, in partnership with the Soper-Reese Community Theatre, is presenting the third annual Professional Pianists Concert on Sunday, March 10.  

The afternoon begins at 2 p.m. with a no-host reception, followed by the concert at 3 p.m.

Performing will be six well-known professional pianists from Lake and Mendocino counties.

These musicians will combine their talent and years of experience to benefit fundraising efforts for the arts and education in Lake County.

Lake County artists Tom Aiken, Tom Ganoung, and David Neft will be joined by performers Spencer Brewer, Elena Casanova, and Elizabeth MacDougall from Mendocino County.  

The concert will feature all the pianists on stage throughout the afternoon as they trade stories and play a variety of musical selections. Young pianist Hana Consterdine will be special guest performer.

Tickets are $25 for regular reserved and $30 for premium reserved and may be purchased at the box office on Friday, 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., or by phone to 707-263-0577.  

The Soper Reese is located at 275 S. Main Street in Lakeport.  Tickets may be purchased online at www.soperreesetheatre.com .

The presenters announced the sponsors for this year’s concert and expressed their gratitude for their support of education and the arts in Lake County.
 
Being recognized as major sponsors and friends are Peggy Campbell, CPA; Tom Lincoln, Lincoln-Leavitt Insurance; Mendo Lake Credit Union; Rick and Judy McCann; Pam Scully, Lakeport Furniture; John Tomkins Tax Consultants; and Wright Contracting Inc.

Other sponsors include David Browning, OD; Susie LaPointe, Pat and Lori McGuire, and Jim and Wilda Shock.

Students and programs at the Lake Center of Mendocino College will benefit from the sale of tickets for a chance to win bountiful baskets of Lake County products, including wine and tickets to special events.  

Basket and wine donors include Cheating Daylight, Judy Conard, Gloria Flaherty, Tim and Jamey Gill, Wally Holbrook, Lake Family Resource Center, and Susie LaPointe.  

Other donors are the Mendocino College Foundation, Trena Pauly and Polestar Computers, Wilda Shock, Margaret Silveira and the Tallman Hotel.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The local exhibition of talent known as Lake County Live! Returned to the Soper-Reese Community Theatre in Lakeport on Sunday, Feb. 24, with the usual cast of players and three musical acts.

Fresh off the heels of the Winter Music Festival, the Mendo-Lake Singers performed for the live audience in the theater and those listening at home on KPFZ, Lake County Community Radio at 88.1 FM or listening on the Internet via www.kpfz.org .

This group of women, a part of the organization known as the Sweet Adelines, performed four-part harmonies while presenting a visually entertaining set.

Also on the program was In Voice, a quartet featuring Bill Bordisso, Keith Larson, Libby Larson and Doug Harris. They performed several wonderful songs in the folk and traditional manner, much to the delight of the audience.

Rounding out the show was a presentation by the child cast members of the local production of “The Sound of Music” featuring kids from the Lakeport schools.  

Lake County Live’s very own Pamela Bradley, also known as Rhoda during the “Ladies of the Lake” section of each show, produced the performance by the young players.  

The show also revisited the other “Ladies of the Lake” including Vicky Parish Smith, Kris Andre and Suna Flores, as well as featuring the talents of Richard Smith and Nick Reid.  

Show creator and producer Doug Rhoades, who also hosts the program, said “I think this was one of the most entertaining shows we’ve done thus far, although it gets easier to say that as the talent keeps getting better and better. But it’s only entertaining through the efforts of our regular voice performers, and the great musical acts who come on the show.”

Rhoades added, “Without them, we wouldn’t be here at all.”

Lake County Live! is presented at 6 p.m. on the last Sunday of each month at the Soper-Reese Community Theatre in Lakeport. The show is broadcast live and streamed on the Internet at KPFZ 88.1 FM and www.kpfz.org .

The next show is March 31.

When spring finally arrives, it can be fun to see what winter left behind, and Jeffrey Harrison of Massachusetts is doing just that in this amusing poem.

Mailboxes in Late Winter

It’s a motley lot. A few still stand
at attention like sentries at the ends
of their driveways, but more lean
askance as if they’d just received a blow
to the head, and in fact they’ve received
many, all winter, from jets of wet snow
shooting off the curved, tapered blade
of the plow. Some look wobbly, cocked
at oddball angles or slumping forlornly
on precariously listing posts. One box
bows steeply forward, as if in disgrace, its door
lolling sideways, unhinged. Others are dented,
battered, streaked with rust, bandaged in duct tape,
crisscrossed with clothesline or bungee cords.
A few lie abashed in remnants of the very snow
that knocked them from their perches.
Another is wedged in the crook of a tree
like a birdhouse, its post shattered nearby.
I almost feel sorry for them, worn out
by the long winter, off-kilter, not knowing
what hit them, trying to hold themselves
together, as they wait for news from spring.

American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation ( www.poetryfoundation.org ), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright 2012 by Jeffrey Harrison, whose most recent book of poems is Incomplete Knowledge, Four Way Books, 2006. Poem reprinted from Southwest Review, Vol. 97, no. 1, 2012, by permission of Jeffrey Harrison and the publisher. Introduction copyright 2013 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006. We do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.