“Bus Stop” launches WTC’s 30th season
Published: September 30, 2008
Directed by Artistic Director Nancy Nei, “Bus Stop” is a bittersweet comedy made popular by a long run on Broadway and the movie version starring Marilyn Monroe and Don Murray. Inge was one of the most critically acknowledged and commercially successful playwrights of the 1950s with his plays “Come Back Little Sheba,” Pulitzer Prize-winner “Picnic” and “Bus Stop.”
“When you look at the plays that last, they last for a reason. They are good,” says Nei. “The character studies here are exceptional.”
“Bus Stop” looks at love in its various forms: the love of the young with its irresistible attraction; the love of a father figure for a son; the transient love of two adults, better known as “a fling”; and the quest of a young girl to understand what love is.
“This is definitely a comedy,” adds Nei. “The play gives us a great opportunity to be able to laugh at what Americans often take too seriously – love.”
The scene is a roadside diner in the middle of a howling snowstorm. With all roads blocked, the passengers of a bus out of Kansas City must spend the night at Grace’s Diner.
Two of the passengers are a cowboy and a show girl; their love conflict is at the center of the play which also explores the desperate need in all of us to make human connections. While some of the characters are in search of their dreams, romance and respect; others come to terms with the real-world choices they have made.
The cast includes Dick Collins as Sheriff Will Masters; Tony Hernandez as Carl, the bus driver; Phelps L’Hommedieu as Dr. Gerald Lyman; Katie McGunagle as the young waitress Elma Duckworth; Jackson Palmer as the cowboy Bo Decker; Constance See as Grace, the owner of the diner; Scarlett Schindler as Cherie, the nightclub singer; and Dusty Werst as Virgil Blessing, Bo’s cowboy mentor.
Performances are 7:30 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays, Oct. 17-25, and 4 p.m. Sundays, Oct. 19 and 26. All seats are reserved. Tickets are $14 for adults and $10 for students and seniors; call 862-5371 or visit www.whitefishtheatreco.org.
