‘Of Mice and Men’

Steinbeck’s classic work opens in Calhoun, Ga.

Two drifters, George Milton and his friend, Lennie Small, have just arrived at a ranch to work for enough money to buy their own place.

Lennie is a man-child, a little boy in the body of a dangerously powerful man. It’s Lennie’s obsessions with things soft and cuddly that has made George cautious about who the gentle giant, with his brute strength, associates with. His promise to allow Lennie to “tend to the rabbits” on their future land keeps Lennie calm, amid distractions, as the overgrown child needs constant reassurance.

But when a ranch boss’s promiscuous wife is found dead in the barn with a broken neck, it’s obvious that Lennie, albeit accidentally, killed her.

This is the set-up for the gripping drama “Of Mice and Men,” to be presented in two performances in Harris Arts Center in Calhoun, Ga., on Jan. 13-14.

The play, based on the novel by John Steinbeck, is directed by Virginia McChesney. It is staged by the Rome, Ga., Little Theatre and produced in special arrangement with Dramatists Play Services. The production is made possible by season sponsor Cathy Camp Bomar.

George, now worried about his own safety, knows exactly where Lennie has gone to hide and meets him there. Realizing they can’t run away anymore, George is faced with a moral dilemma: How should he deal with Lennie before the ranchers find him and take matters into their own hands?

Learn Lennie’s fate when “Of Mice and Men” opens Saturday at 7 p.m. with a 3 p.m. matinee on Sunday.

General-admission tickets are available online at www.harrisartscenter. com. Any discounted tickets may be purchased in person at the center or by calling 706-629-2599.