You’re stuck in a bus terminal on a snowy night outside Topeka, Kans., and it’s all you’ve got until morning.
So opens the setting for “Bus Stop,” a classic American play and the spring production of choice for the Kent-Meridian Royal Players.
K-M drama teacher and “Bus Stop” director Jay Thornton said he chose “Bus Stop” for the Royal Players because it’s a smaller production, giving students here a chance to go in-depth to bring their characters to life.
“I always like to do a few (smaller productions),” Thornton said, noting in the spring he typically winds up with a core group of experienced students.
“This gives kids real experience with nice, meaty roles,” he said.
Written in 1955 by William Inge, “Bus Stop” is probably best known as the Marilyn Monroe movie, which Thornton said, is based only loosely on the play. Given her star power, the movie is focused on more on Monroe’s character, a second-rate singer named Cherie, who has been kidnapped by an obsessed cowboy named Bo.
The K-M production is truer to the original play, in that “this is more of an ensemble piece,” Thornton said, with each character having more opportunity for depth and a backstory.
Playing Cherie is Waverly James and her obsessed cowboy Bo is played by Donaye Smith. Marie Teleten plays Grace, the bus-stop cafe owner, Chelsea Davis plays naive waitress Elma, Garren Moss is Dr. Lyman, a girl-chasing college professor; Jonathan Joseph is town Sheriff Will; Brandon Ellington is the bus driver, Carl; and Charles Hawkins is Virgil, a father figure to Bo.
All must spend the night in Grace’s cafe, each with their own baggage – in the literal as well as the figurative sense.
In some respects, “Bus Stop” is lot like high school.
“It’s a play about all these people, literally, on a journey,” Thornton said. “Some of them know where they’re going; some don’t. (In high school) you end up with kids who are trying to find their place, like this play.”
The other big character in “Bus Stop” is the element of loneliness, and Thornton said they have tried to reflect that in multiple ways, including the set of Grace’s diner. With its lighting and other sparsness, the set evokes the mood of an Edward Hopper painting, of which “Nighthawk” is probably the most famous. Characters may be locked in together for “Bus Stop,” but like a Hopper painting, it’s clear each is vastly alone.
In spite of that darker element, “Bus Stop” has an upbeat tempo.
“The appealing thing is that it’s a fun play,” Thornton said. “It’s a great story, and it’s great to see the story unfold. It’s always fun when you’ve got a beautiful set, too. It’s an American classic and people should see those when they come up.”
While the audience will be getting one thing out of the production – a night of entertainment – Thornton’s students are getting something else. A sense of family.
School drama programs can be like that.
“I always have kids who wouldn’t be in school if they didn’t have theater,” Thornton said, of the different walks of life students are coming to him from. “There are students who don’t quite get the full family structure (at home.)”
It’s that sense of teamwork, with each student invested in achieving a group goal, Thornton said, that teaches lessons beyond memorizing lines or building a set.
“We run a tight ship here,” he said. “Kids who haven’t had that structure imposed on them, they like it because they see how important they are – there’s a reward there.
“It’s a good lesson.”
If you go
WHAT: “Bus Stop” by the Kent-Meridian Royal Players
WHEN: May 13-14, 19-21
WHERE: Kent-Meridian Performing Arts Center, 10020 S.E. 256th St., Kent
TICKETS: At the door; $8 for adults; $5 for children and senior citizens
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