Bus Stop

by William Inge
directed by Penny Nash
Thurs.-Sat., Oct. 8-24, 8:00 p.m.
The Davies Foundation Auditorium
52 Church St., Kingston, ON

Jennifer Verardi, Andy Palmer, Ben Hudson and Robert McMahon

In the middle of a howling snowstorm, a bus out of Kansas City pulls up at a roadside diner. The weary travelers are going to have to hole up until morning. During the night their stories unfold, all to do with various aspects of love.

Cherie, a nightclub chanteuse, is being pursued, made love to and finally kidnapped by Bo, a cowboy with a ranch of his own and the romantic methods of an unusually headstrong bull. But Cherie is less innocent than she seems, and Bo more so.

Madelin Dawson and Robert Bruce

Grace, the proprietor of the cafe, admits that since her husband left many years ago she is sometimes lonesome, but "I got just as lonesome when he was here." While the bus is stranded Grace and Carl the bus driver at last find time to develop a friendship of their own.

Yvonne Neatby and Robert Bruce

Dr. Lyman, a middle-aged scholar who agrees he is smart but wishes he were intelligent, takes an interest in Elma, a young girl who works in the cafe and is pleasantly surprised at the older man paying attention to her. She later understands his interest better, and he begins to come to terms with himself.

Meanwhile Virgil, a ranch hand travelling with Bo, carries on with the solitary existence he has chosen, and the local sheriff Will keeps order with calm and wisdom.

Bus Stop premiered on Broadway in March 1955 and ran for 478 performances. It had revivals in New York in 1996 and in London in 2010-2011. The 1956 film of the same name, starring Marilyn Monroe, is loosely based on this play and another by Inge called People of the Wind. There was also a television series based on the play in 1961-62.

William Inge

William Inge was born in Independence, Kansas, in 1913. He studied speech and drama at the University of Kansas, and worked as a radio announcer, labourer and teacher before becoming a drama critic for the St. Louis Star-Times in 1943.

While working as a critic Inge became acquainted with Tennessee Williams, and after accompanying Williams to a performance of The Glass Menagerie he was inspired to write his first play, Farther Off From Heaven, which was staged in Dallas.

His first Broadway production was Come Back, Little Sheba, which opened in 1950. His next play, Picnic, won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1953. His other plays include The Dark at the Top of the Stairs, Bus Stop, A Loss of Roses, Natural Affection, Where's Daddy? and The Last Pad.

William Inge committed suicide in 1973 at the age of 60. The inscription on his headstone reads simply "Playwright".