Of Mice and Men, the well-known and well-loved novel by John Steinbeck, was published in 1937. Almost immediately, Steinbeck adapted the story into a play, which opened on Broadway while the novel was still on best-seller lists. It won the 1938 New York Drama Critics’ Circle Best Play award. Later this month, it is coming to life on the UW-Washington County stage.

For local theater director Paul Steinbach, however, it wasn’t the book or the play that was his first experience with the story. It was the 1992 movie version. Produced by Gary Sinese, it starred Sinese and John Malkovich.

As much as he loved the movie, Steinbach says that he’s grown to appreciate the play equally, though it’s quite different. “It’s edgier, it’s raw,” Steinbach says. “It doesn’t pull any punches.”

Steinbach says he has read the script dozens of times, and he never gets tired of reading it. “That’s the test of great literature. And that’s the brilliance of the play, that I’m still thinking about it, still finding nuance every time I read it.” And that, in part, is what has him so excited about the project.

The youngest member of a theater family, Steinbach first took the stage when he was seven years old. His father, John Steinbach, was an English teacher at West Bend West, and directed student theater productions. His sister, Sue Gilbertson, is well-known to local audiences for her work on and off stage. Paul has been an actor and a director. He was involved in West Bend’s annual A Christmas Carol production, and adapted the Dickens novel to the stage.

It’s this show that made him take the next step, to form an LLC and don the producer hat. He’s had certain cast members in mind for at least five years, and has been thinking about the show even longer than that.

“To me, not enough of community theater is about good storytelling. This isn’t a comedy or a musical, so it’s a little different than what you usually see. But it’s such a great story, and I wanted to tell it.”

In the story, George is a drifter, searching for work as a farm laborer during the Great Depression. He’s traveling with Lennie, a huge childlike man, who needs George’s protection to survive. After they find jobs on a ranch, George begins to let himself dream of a better life. But Lennie’s inability to control his urge to touch things he likes threatens to destroy their dreams.

Steinbach didn’t hold traditional auditions for the show. Instead, he recruited actors he knew, and scouted local shows for talent. The story follows nine men and one woman, and Steinbach says it’s a solid cast of deeply experienced actors — three of whom live in the Milwaukee area. The commute to rehearsals is one indication of their commitment to the piece, as is the amount of work being put into a short run of only two performances. Steinbach says he couldn’t be more pleased with the effort of his cast members. “They’re as into this story as I am.”

Nicholas Callan Haubner plays Lennie. Steinbach spotted him playing Gaston in the Hartford Players’ production of Beauty and the Beast. He approached Haubner after the show, and told him he saw him as Lennie. Haubner’s first experience with the play was in a high school acting class. Already near his adult height of 6’4″, Haubner immediately identified with the role. He’s thrilled to have the chance to finally play this character.

The cast also includes Marvin Bynum, Jake Cox, Peter Gibeau, Melf Gourlie, Simon McGhee, Scott Pollnow, Keighley Sadler and Tom Stodola.

A lot of this show is uncomfortable, Steinbach says. “And that’s the beauty of it. I want people to be moved by it, and to leave thinking about it. It might make them squirm a bit, if we do it right, and I think we have the cast to do it right.”

Of Mice and Men
presented by Seventh Row Center LLC
at UW-Washington County
April 21 & 22, 7:30pm

For tickets: UW-Washington County Online Box Office