SOLANO REPERTORY THEATRE COMPANY is currently staging Dale Wasserman’s “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” an adaptation of the 1963 Ken Kesey novel, in the black box performance space of the Missouri Street Theatre in Fairfield. Nestor Campos Jr. stands out in the production as Chief Bromden, a patient at the mental institution where new-admit Randle P. McMurphy (played by Solano Rep President Curt Thompson) arrives one day and shakes up the institution’s shady status-quo.

The black box space at the Missouri is a small auditorium, set with portable, tiered seating for audiences opposite a floor-level staging area. Amenities for the production, including lighting, props and costumes, appeared limited at the show’s press preview Saturday, contributing to a casual overall atmosphere. In fact, the production has a workshop kind of feel, as if most of the players are there to learn the ropes from a few key pros.

Almost all of the action in the play takes place in the common room of the mental hospital, where Nurse Ratched (Jaina Frank) holds decidedly non-therapeutic group counseling sessions for the mentally compromised residents. McMurphy has agreed to a stint at the facility in lieu of jail time and arrives full of confidence that he can relax and enjoy himself for a few months until his release. But after witnessing Nurse Ratched’s cruel, intimidating techniques with the patients, he begins to take on a more compassionate stance, doing whatever he can to get his new pals to stand up to their manipulative captor.

Campos does a tremendous job in the challenging role of Chief. He must appear either completely unapproachable and incapable of responding to stimuli, or cowering in fear in a corner, or speaking coherently to his absent father when nobody else is around, or finally warming up and joking with McMurphy, all the while maintaining the character of a mentally compromised man.

We are clued into Chief’s thoughts as he speaks to his father, revealing the torment that has brought him to the hospital. His thoughts also clue us in to the way McMurphy is helping him and the others to see beyond Nurse Ratched’s version of reality. McMurphy is cracking the nurse’s narrow lens, allowing the greater, outside reality to come into view.

Frank is cool and collected as Ratched, but also meek in her delivery, not much of a match for her rebellious charges in the hospital ward. Brandon Quilici is engaging as Billy, the stuttering child in a man’s body, desperate to please his punishing mother, and Levi Duncan gives a strong performance as Mr. Harding, the lead patient advocate before McMurphy arrives on the scene. Most of the other players do an acceptable job, proficient but unremarkable.

Solano Rep is in the process of rebuilding, according to artistic director Carla Spindt, who also directs the current production. A steady stream of new talent was cut off when nearby Solano Community College closed its drama program a few years ago, and the effects are now being keenly felt. At this point, Spindt says, the group’s main drive is to present “lots of theater” to keep the name fresh in the minds of supporters.

It’s not at all common for a reviewer to be invited to a preview performance like this, and for good reason. A reviewer should see a well-rehearsed performance to be able to offer the most favorable possible feedback. In this case, it seems the producers felt that of greater importance was getting the word out in time for patrons to schedule a visit within the two-weekend span of regular performances. It is my sincere hope that this is the case, and that I have been of service to them as well as to Herald readers.

Go see the play with a mind to support local theater. In that spirit, the strengths of the production will surely outweigh its shortcomings.

If You Go
“One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” continues at the Missouri Street Theatre, 1125 Missouri St., Fairfield, through Nov. 16. Tickets are $17 and are available at solanorep.com. For more information call 707-832-4388.

Elizabeth Warnimont is a freelance writer specializing in the performing arts. She is also a substitute teacher for the Benicia Unified School District.