Repertory Theatre begins tonight on LCHS stage

Lake City High School’s Troupe de Wolfe Productions will present a pair of plays that focus on the American experience in the west in the 1930s and the 1870s.

John Steinbeck’s, “Of Mice and Men” is paired with “Going to See the Elephant” by Karen Hensel and Elana Kent.

The plays will be performed on alternate nights beginning and running through March 12. Shows begin at 7 p.m. at the school, 6101 Ramsey Road.

“Of Mice and Men” revolves around two friends, George and Lennie, itinerant workers traveling from town to town looking for work during the Great Depression.

George’s dream is that he and Lennie, a sweet, simple giant of a man, will own their own ranch.

The play shares the loneliness, isolation and sacrifice that follow them on their journey.

Lennie is built like an ox, but has the mind of a child.

George is a slight, shrewd and fast talking man of the road. Drifting from ranch to ranch in 1930s California, struggling to make a living as migrant workers, they depend on each other in their loneliness and alienation, their complex bond strengthened by dreams and plans for a better life on a farm of their own. Steinbeck’s towering classic tragedy set against the backdrop of the Great Depression is a poignant portrait of the flipside of the American Dream and a friendship tested to its limits.

“Going to See the Elephant” takes place at a sod hut in the Kansas wilderness of the 1870s, where four frontier women wrest a living from the stubborn soil.

As they cope with wolf attacks, a constant fear of Indians, and the dismal isolation of the prairie, they talk of “going to see the elephant” — crossing the next hill to see what lies on the other side.

It is this sense of striving to achieve all that life can offer that gives the play its power and beauty-and makes it clear that the wilderness was not tamed by men alone.

Tickets are $7 general admission, $6 for seniors and students and $5 with a Lake City ASB card.

The themes of these plays deal with the harsh realities of survival in difficult circumstances.

They are not recommended for children.