One More Week of Bus Stop at SRT
Cherie (Marian Sorensen) tried to hide from Bo (Jarred Kjack) behind Grace (Alison Coutts-Jordan) and Elma (Mary Kate Wiles), waitresses from Grace’s diner where they are stranded. Photo by Rich Miller Photography.
Holed up in a small roadside diner in the middle of a Kansas snowstorm, a group of weary travelers settle in for a long night ahead. Snowed in and isolated from the outside world, they suddenly find themselves on a different journey all together.
Who gets on the bus the next morning – and who stays behind – comes as a surprise to everyone.
If you haven’t already, enjoy the ride in Sierra Rep’s presentation of Bus Stop playing through September 27 at Sierra Rep’s East Sonora Theatre.
Told with warmth and humor, Bus Stop is the third of four enduring American classics by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright William Inge. The entire play takes place in a single night at Grace’s Diner, which serves as a Greyhound bus stop.
At the center are Bo, a young, love-struck cowboy with all the romantic finesse of a headstrong bull and Cherie, a vulnerable nightclub singer he’s determined to marry and take back to his Montana ranch. As sparks fly between the pair, the rest of the stranded passengers and locals try to steer clear and ponder their own situations.
“Having no where to go, the characters bump up against one another, and see each other’s fears, desires and insecurities,” says SRT’s Dennis Jones, the show’s director and designer. “In his signature style, Inge has these very real people searching for what it means to love and be loved.”
Diner owner Grace is coming to terms with a life alone, her only companionship from a cross-country bus driver named Carl who comes by on his route. By contrast, her employee, Elma, is a blossoming high school girl eager to move out into the world. When she attracts the eye of an older professor, Dr. Lyman, both relish the chance for attention. Sheriff Will Masters watches over the diner with a caring eye. And finally, Bo’s rodeo buddy, Virgil, willingly tempers his friend’s wildness with patience and sense.
“These people come from different backgrounds and perspectives and it’s very interesting to see what happens when they are forced together,” says Jones. “That dynamic draws us in.” He has eight fine performers to fill the diner for the night. As the young Bo and Cherie are two outstanding Southern California actors, Jarred Kjack and Marian Sorensen. Kjack has national credits on stage and television and Sorensen most recently has appeared in leading roles with California Shakespeare Company. Playing Bo’s friend Virgil is New York City actor and singer-songwriter Scott Wakefield, who has performed on Broadway, off-Broadway and major regional theaters from coast to coast.
SRT Company actor Ty Smith (King Lear, School for Wives, Romeo and Juliet) is the troubled professor and guest artist Mary Kate Wiles, a recent graduate of the University of Southern California’s theater program, is the impressionable Elma. Award-winning Santa Barbara performer Alison Coutts-Jordan is diner-owner Grace, Sierra Rep favorite Gary Holman (Best Little Whorehouse, The Christmas Foundling, South Pacific) is Sheriff Will and Sonora’s William Frank Silva returns to Sierra Rep after a four-year break to play the bus driver Carl.
Jones and his team are creating a very real environment for Grace’s Diner – the familiar diner countertop lined with stools, table top jukeboxes, the smell of cooking hamburgers, an old pot-bellied stove and plenty of space to allow for movement and intimacy.
“Inge wrote this play in a very cinematic style,” Jones says. “The focus shifts from one group to another inside the diner, so we seamlessly go from scene to scene, keeping it intimate.”
That tone is central to the audience experience.
“These characters are rooted in the real world, and their experiences with love and loneliness ring true to all of us,” Jones said. “There is plenty of humor in the play, but it stems from the interactions between the characters, a warm humor that an audience can relate to.”
The final outcome of their interactions, Jones says, is open.
“You have to leave some part up to the audience,” he says. “I want them to go away and wonder for themselves how they would have reacted given the circumstances in this world.”
Jones is joined by Sierra Rep’s veteran production team: lighting designer Christopher Van Tuyl, costume designer Tracy M. Ward, property master Jen Fletcher and stage manager Benjamin Loverin.
Thursday and Friday performances begin at 7 p.m., Saturday evening shows begin at 8 p.m. and Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday matinees begin at 2 p.m. Tickets are $18-$28 with discounts for students and seniors. For more information or reservations, call Sierra Rep’s box office at (209) 532-3120 or visit Sierra Rep at www.sierrarep.org.
