The beloved American musical that brought us “The Impossible Dream” turns its lens on modern love and society, especially as brought to the Playhouse stage by director Mark Lamos in our award-winning 2018 production. In this play within a play, Cervantes has not yet finished his manuscript for Don Quixote—he sits in jail awaiting trial during the Spanish Inquisition. Fourteen actors portraying Cervantes and his fellow prisoners bring to life the great odyssey we all know of a questing knight tilting at windmills and battling for the love of the fair maiden Aldonza.

Two migrant ranch workers, best friends, move from place to place, seeking work and the promise of the American dream. George dreams of owning land and being his own boss. Lennie, his partner, a giant and physically strong man with cognitive disability, simply dreams of playing with rabbits. Having encountered problems at their last job, George and Lennie are forced to flee to a new farm for work until Lennie’s strength gets them into trouble.

Sister Aloysius, a school principal with a mandate to uphold tradition, is certain something’s terribly wrong about the relationship between a young parish priest and a troubled boy. But beneath her moral crusade to reveal the horrible truth lies a chasm of doubt, where the choices we make can reverberate beyond our imagining.

Nick and his wife Sam have left the chaos of the world behind for their tiny house among the sequoias—or so they think! But fireworks fly when a quirky cast of characters converge upon their tiny enclave for a Fourth of July barbecue, and we’re reminded that there is no easy escape.