‘Bus Stop’ opens Friday at Cambria Center for the Arts Theatre
Several newcomers to Cambria Center for the Arts Theatre will be on stage for “Bus Stop,” which opens April 13 at the theatre.
Tyler Lopez, who appeared in “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” this past fall, will direct. Returning players include Oz Barron, who plays Dr. Lyman; Danielle McNamara (Cherie), who directed and starred in “Nunsense” last summer; and Dawn Doherty (Grace) and Sean McCallon (Bo), who appeared in the recent Readers’ Theatre show “Ripcord.”
Doherty’s character owns a roadside diner where the play is set, in March of 1955. A bus full of travelers from Kansas City pulls up outside the diner in the midst of a snowstorm; with all roads blocked, they’re forced to wait out the storm until morning. A number of stories play out among different characters in the ensemble production.
William Inge, whose plays include the Pulitzer Prize-winning “Picnic,” wrote “Bus Stop,” which was nominated for four Tony Awards and was adapted into a 1956 motion picture starring Marilyn Monroe.
The New York Times called the play “an uproarious comedy that never strays from the truth,” and the New York Post said Inge “brings to theatre a kind of warm-hearted compassion, creative vigor, freshness of approach and appreciation of average humanity that can be wonderfully touching and stimulating.”
Other cast members for the CCAT production are Kaylee Smith as Elma, Frank Moe as Virgil, Mark Klassan as Carl and Jay Raftry as Will. Krystal Kirk is the stage manager.
Performances are set for 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and 2 p.m. Sundays through May 6 at 1350 Main St. in Cambria. A wine bar will be open at 6:30 for evening performances.
Tickets, priced at $20, are available at the box office, by calling 805-927-8190 or at brownpapertickets.com.
“Kalamazoo”
Tom Ammon and Janice Peters star in the comedy “Kalamazoo,” the second staged reading from By the Sea Productions in 2018. Three performances are planned in a single weekend: 7 p.m. April 20 and 21, and 3 p.m. April 22.
The play revolves around Peg (Peters) and John Irving (Ammon), who join the Silver Foxes dating service in search of their ideal mate. It’s directed by John Mackey, who also directed Peters in “Doublewide Texas” at Cambria Center for the Arts Theatre. Mackey describes “Kalamazoo” as a “humorous tale of love, loss and learning to love again.”
Tickets, priced at $10, may be purchased at the door or online at bytheseaproductions.org. Details: 805-776-3287.
This story was originally published April 10, 2018 at 10:04 AM with the headline "‘Bus Stop’ opens Friday at Cambria Center for the Arts Theatre."