Bus Stop (1987)

Performances

February 20-21, 27-28 & March 1, 6-7, 1987

Venue

Community Players Theatre

Synopsis

In the middle of a howling snowstorm, a bus out of Kansas City pulls up at a cheerful roadside diner. All roads are blocked, and the weary travelers are going to have to hole up until morning. Cherie, a nightclub chanteuse in a sparkling gown and a seedy fur-trimmed jacket, is the passenger with most to worry about. She’s being pursued, made love to, and finally kidnapped by a twenty-one-year-old cowboy with a ranch of his own and the romantic methods of an unusually headstrong bull. The belligerent cowhand is right behind her, ready to sling her over his shoulder and carry her alive and kicking all the way to Montana. Even as she is ducking out from under his clumsy but confident embraces and screeching at him fiercely to shut him up, she pauses to furrow her forehead and muse, “Somehow deep inside of me I got a funny feeling I’m gonna end up in Montana …” As a counterpoint to the main romance, the proprietor of the cafe and the bus driver at last find time to develop a friendship of their own; a middle-age scholar comes to terms with himself; and a young girl who works in the cafe also gets her first taste of romance.

Author: William Inge

Historian’s Corner

The 1987 production of “Bus Stop” was a revival. The first production of “Bus Stop” had been the opening show of the 1957-1958 season. The show was well-received by the reviewer and the audiences and was profitable for the Community Players.