What happens when criminal justice collides with neurodiversity? That is the question that Mens Rea (Latin for "guilty mind") attempts to answer. In this world premiere, the Defendant, played by Sarah France, confronts the Lawyer, played by Schuyler Marcier, with the stark reality of a deeply traumatized mind which the legal system was never designed to address. Sarah's Defendant, who suffers from a severe case of dissociative identity disorder, alternates between four distinct personalities, each of whom knows a different piece of the overall puzzle. Only by working with all four personalities can Schuyler's Lawyer assemble the full picture of what really happened, in a high-profile murder case which has seized the headlines of New York City in the not-so-distant past. But each of the Defendant's personalities has their own agenda, and the Lawyer himself desperately tries to obscure dark truths from his troubled past.

Mens Rea is written and directed by Jeremy Daw, a graduate of Harvard Law School who has channeled his own personal struggles as a neurodiverse individual attempting to navigate a legal system which judges all people by the standard of the elusive "reasonable man." The show runs at Ukiah Players Theatre for one weekend only, November 6th and 7th at 7pm, and November 8th at 2pm, and will include an intermission as well as an audience Q&A with the writer-director after each performance.

Directed by Lalo Torres

Musical Direction by Joni Mcleod

A guy with an invisible drum, a medieval restaurant host who won’t break character, a milkmaid who just wants to get rid of some cheese, and a dancing snowflake in the world’s ugliest costume. These are just some of the characters you’ll find in “And a Partridge in a Pear Tree.” This 60-minute holiday play weaves together 12 five-minute scenes based on the well-known verses of the Christmas carol “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” With musical interludes throughout.

Barry Champlain, Cleveland's controversial radio host, is on the air doing what he does best: insulting the pathetic souls who call in the middle of the night to sound off. Tomorrow, Barry's show is going into national syndication and his producer is afraid that Barry will say something that will offend the sponsors. This, of course, makes Barry even more outrageous. Funny and moving, off beat, outrageous and totally entrancing.

Rating: Mature for language, themes and content

In a Berlin nightclub, as the 1920s draw to a close, a garish Master of Ceremonies welcomes the audience and assures them they will forget all their troubles at the Cabaret. With the Emcee’s bawdy songs as wry commentary, Cabaret explores the dark, heady and tumultuous life of Berlin’s natives and expatriates as Germany slowly yields to the emerging Third Reich. Cliff, a young American writer newly arrived in Berlin, is immediately taken with English singer Sally Bowles. Meanwhile, Fräulein Schneider, proprietor of Cliff and Sally’s boarding house, tentatively begins a romance with Herr Schultz, a mild-mannered fruit seller who happens to be Jewish. Musical numbers include “Willkommen,” “Cabaret,” “Don't Tell Mama” and “Two Ladies.”

Rating: PG-13

In collaboration with Ukiah High School's Theatre Department:

ABBA's hits tell the hilarious story of a young woman's search for her birth father. This sunny and funny tale unfolds on a Greek island paradise. On the eve of her wedding, a daughter's quest to discover the identity of her father brings three men from her mother's past back to the island they last visited 20 years ago.

Rating: General Audience

After Callie meets Sara, the two unexpectedly fall in love. Their first kiss provokes a violent attack that transforms their lives in a way they could never anticipate. An angry bystander attacks Sara in a hate-crime after which she falls into a coma. This heartfelt story is told out of chronological order as we watch the relationship between Callie and Sara both before and after this horrific act.

Rating: Mature Audiences due to language, descriptions of violence and hate speech.