Newnan Theatre Company Announces OF MICE AND MEN

Newnan Theatre Company is proud to announce the opening of its 41st season with a production of the John Steinbeck classic work, Of Mice and Men. The show opens on August 16th and will run through August 26th. The story is based on Steinbeck's own experiences of working with the migrant workers in California when he was a teenager. Steinbeck took the title from the famous poem "To A Mouse," by Robert Burns, which reads, "... the best-laid plans o' mice an' men/ Gang aft agley," or "The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry."

This classic story concerns two displaced migrant ranch workers, George Milton and Lennie Small. George is an intelligent but uneducated man, while Lennie is a mentally disabled gentle giant of a man. They are on the road, moving from town to town, looking for work, while they both dream of owning their own small plot of land one day. Lennie's dream is only to raise and tend a family of rabbits, as he loves touching soft animals, although he often accidentally kills them because he does not realize his own strength. The two find themselves working on a farm in Soledad, California, where they meet other ranch hands. One in particular, Candy, is an older man nearing the end of his usefulness as a rancher, and he gets caught up in the pair's dream of working for themselves rather than taking orders from a boss. Tragedy occurs when, once again, Lennie's unharnessed strength causes the death of a young woman, and the two find themselves on the run from a mob of avenging ranchers.

"Although the story is set during the Great Depression, I think the ideas are as timely now as they have ever been," says director Tony Daniel. "People want to follow their dreams, they want to find their own little world where they can exist in peace and happiness, but those dreams are often not meant to be. As sad as that sounds, there are times when a dream has to be looked at from another point of view before it can come true."

Levi Morgan and David Van Sant star as George and Lennie. "Steinbeck's book has been a favorite of mine for years," says Morgan. "When the opportunity came to be a part of bringing the book to life, I jumped at it!" Van Sant echoes the sentiment, saying, "To be able to play this wonderful, well-meaning giant of a man has been a dream of mine. Many folks know the basic idea of the story, but the beauty of it is in the details Steinbeck gave these characters. They came to life on the page long before any of us ever thought about acting the story out."

The cast also includes Daniel Silva as Curley, a young man with a Napoleon complex whose father is the boss of the ranch. Janet Marie Gunnels plays Curley's Wife, a young woman who married to escape her humdrum life, only to find herself trapped in yet another dull and colorless existence on a ranch full of men who dislike her. John Caldwell, III plays Candy, the older rancher who has lost a hand to the machinery on the ranch, and now feels the end of his time as a rancher coming to a close. Also in the cast are Jim Christy and Daniel Sellers as Whit and Carlson, two of the ranch hands, and Matt Perdue as The Boss. Jeff Brandon plays Slim, the head of the worker crew, who has the inner strength of a leader while maintaining his sympathy to those around him. Samuel Knight plays Crooks, a crippled older black man who works as a stable hand whose only desire is to be seen as an equal to those around him.

John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men opens on August 16th and runs through August 26th. Show times are at 8 pm, Thursday through Saturday nights, with matinee performances at 3 pm on Sundays. Tickets are available now and can be purchased by going to the Newnan Theatre Company website, www.newnantheatre.org, or by calling Newnan Theatre Company at 770.683.6282. There is some mature language in the show, so if there are any questions about the show or its content, please call the Newnan Theatre Company office at the above number.

To post a comment, you must register and login.