FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE & BROADCAST

May 10, 2007

Salinas, CA

Press contact: Dawn Flood

publicity@westernstage.com

Bus Stop Publicity Photos

Please see release for all appropriate public information

The Western Stage Opens a Dynamic 2007 Season with William Inge’s “Bus Stop”

The Western Stage begins its 2007 season with William Inge’s classic romantic comedy “Bus Stop”. When a snow storm strands a motley band of travelers at a roadside diner, the romantic entanglements that unfold create a sometimes hilarious and sometimes terribly sad portrait of the many faces of love. Directed by Jim McLean, “Bus Stop” plays in the Studio Theater, Hartnell Performing Arts Center, June 1 – 24. Performances are Fri and Sat at 8 pm, and Sun at 2 pm. Season tickets are still the best bargain, saving patrons upwards of 42% off the single ticket price. To reserve your seats, call the TWS box office at (831) 375- 2111 or visit us online at westernstage.com. (116 Word PSA)

Salinas, CA — May 10, 2007

Hollywood is notorious for ruining great novels and plays. Although there have been some successes in which filmmakers tried to remain true to the original script as in the case of David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross or Tony Kushner’s Angel’s in America, many other film adoptions barely resemble the play upon which they were based. Such was the case of William Inge’s Bus Stop.

Unlike the 1956 film version, which was an over-the-top romantic farce used as a star vehicle for Marilyn Monroe, the play Bus Stop is a subtle, sometimes poignant comedy about the different faces of love, from the pure to the grotesque. Opening at The Western Stage on June 1, this production under the direction of Jim Mclean promises to be a pleasant surprise for anyone who has only seen the film version.

How is the film different from the play? Instead of focusing on the larger canvas of the ensemble of characters trapped in a roadside diner as the play does, screenwriter George Axelrod focused the camera lens squarely on the relationship between Bo Decker, a rowdy cowboy, and Cherie, the mediocre nightclub singer he kidnaps in the hopes of marrying. Although these characters are indeed central to Inge’s story, Axelrod virtually ignores the bus stop itself, preferring to tell the back story of how Bo and Cherie first met rather than depict the events at the bus stop itself. (For more on this, see supplemental article one.)

Inge’s play is more a montage of romances rather than a linear plot. Each relationship serves as a counterpoint to the other. Beyond Bo and Cherie, two other romances unfold in the play. The first is between Grace, the tough as nails owner of the diner, and Carl, the bus driver, which leads to some off stage courting in Grace’s apartment upstairs. The final romance is the darkest, which may be why Hollywood scrubbed it entirely from the film. It involves a subtle flirtation between Dr. Gerald Lyman, a lonely professor with a reputation for wooing his students, and Elma, an idealistic waitress several decades younger than him.

Inge said he was inspired to write the play after taking a similar bus trip to Kansas City and watching as a young man doggedly pursued a woman on the bus. (For more on William Inge, see supplemental article two.)

This production is directed by TWS instructor and casting director Jim McLean whose previous credits include Pride’s Crossing, Hello, Dolly!, and Inherit the Wind, among many others.

Bus Stop runs through June 24 in the Studio Theatre, Hartnell College Performing Arts Building. Showtimes are Fri & Sat at 8 pm and Sun at 2 pm. Season tickets, as always, are the best bargain saving patrons up to 42% off the door price. Tickets can be purchased through The Western Stage box office at (831) 375-2111 or by going online to westernstage.com.

The Western Stage will continue its exciting 2007 season with Kiss Me Kate and Nickel and Dimed in July; I Love You, Your Perfect, Now Change in August; Brendan Behan’s The Hostage in September; Bertolt Brecht’s The Threepenny Opera in October; and Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific in November.

Daniel Tarker

Literary Associate