It premiered on broadway in 1955, just on the heels of inges first broadway success, picnic. Most of william inge s plays are a mixture of comedy and drama. Cherie, on the other hand, is not exactly going along for the ride. It was also the basis of a 1960s television drama series for which inge himself was a script consultant. I am considering auditioning for this show later in the winter and wanted to read the script. When william inges play, bus stop, opened on broadway march 2, 1955, it was an immediate commercial and critical success. Their story is one of high humor a mixture of brag, heartache, bluster, and the funniest tough love affair ever put on stage, screen, or between the covers of a book. Join stageagent today and unlock amazing theatre resources and opportunities. It premiered on broadway in 1955, just on the heels of inge s first broadway success, picnic. Bus stop plot summary, character breakdowns, context and analysis, and performance video clips.
William inge wrote bus stop, a play that first appeared on broadway in 1955. Fonts bus stop by william inge costume designer demi tran dr. During a winter storm, a busload of weary travelers are forced to shack up at a roadside diner until morning. Gerald lyman elma duckworth will masters appearance reflects a young, innocent school girl simple and natural makeup and hair to suggest her kindness and purity chic waitress dress to show elmas occupation during the. Supersummary, a modern alternative to sparknotes and cliffsnotes, offers highquality study guides that feature detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, quotes, and essay topics. It offers a warm play about the intersecting lives of eight ordinary people. William inge performed at the avery schreiber playhouse in north hollywood, california february 8th 24th. Coastal stage productions at the amvets on ribaut road in port royal presents william inges threeact bus stop with eight intriguing characters and fast storyline. What does playwright william inge say about the character will masters in bus stop.
All four plays had become successful films featuring top hollywood stars. He had written an unprecedented string of broadway hits. It is filled with comedy, compassion and tenderness. In the middle of a howling snowstorm, a bus out of kansas city pulls up at a cheerful roadside diner. When 12 tickets for the centennial theater festivals production of bus stop by william inge were sold to one james a. Discussion of themes and motifs in william inges bus stop. Bus stop was an immediate commercial and critical success on broadway in 1955. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. Will masters is william inges representation of a smalltown sheriff. Eclipse theatres production of bus stop has many ingredients for a successful production.
But william inge had it made, or so it seemed in 1962. A flawless structure depicts each role with a succinct amount of dialogue. I felt william inge did a wonderful job of creating such a vivid and realistic portrayal of people stranded at a bus stop. With his portraits of smalltown life and settings rooted in the. As a screenwriter, he won an academy award splendor. Most of william inges plays are a mixture of comedy and drama. Inge had received a pulitzer prize for picnic and an academy award for his screenplay, splendor in the grass. Selected monologues from bus stop including video examples, context and character information. George axelrod june 9, 1922 june 21, 2003 was an american screenwriter, producer, playwright and film director, best known for his play, the seven year itch 1952, which was adapted into a movie of the same name starring marilyn monroe.
Picnic, bus stop, the dark at the top of the stairs, and come back, little sheba. Bus stop is still a good play, but you wouldnt know it from the superficial staging it. A snowstorm has delayed the trip, so the 5 characters who are on the bus and the 3 who are in the diner spend around 15 a. In 1956, bus stop was brought to the silver screen, starring marilyn monroe in the role of cherie. William inges play bus stop 1955 is a drama with tinges of.
Bo and cherie got together when they were stranded at a bus stop one night. Bus stopwilliam inges play, written in 1955, proves to. Bus stop, set in a small town in kansas, is an expansion of the oneact play people in the wind. Bus stop is set in a diner extraordinarily designed by bruce lachovic, divided into 3 sections, superbly constructed by eugene dechristopher stage left we see a square table with 2 chairs. She is trying to escape with the aid of the people that work in the bus stop where the bus was stranded due to road conditions ahead. Will masters is william inge s representation of a smalltown sheriff. They had to go and tell bo, a course, when he come in a lil after eleven. In the early 1950s he had a string of memorable broadway productions, including picnic, which earned him a pulitzer prize. Grace, the owner of the diner, and carl, the bus driver, have a little bit of a relationship.
The story concerns the passengers of a crosscountry bus who are stranded overnight by a blizzard and congregate. Is the play bus stop by william inge indeed a one act play. William inges popular plays of the 1950s received tony nominations bus stop 1956, and dark at the top of the stairs 1958 and won a pulitzer prize picnic 1953. Written by william inge directed by gary romans performance dates march 4th19th, 2011 fridays and saturdays at 8pm sundays at 2pm synopsis in the middle of a howling snowstorm, a bus out of kansas city pulls up at a cheerful roadside diner. The visual that a play presents is a dominating factor in the quest to invite an audience member into a world of which they feel a part. Bus stop, the dark at the top of the stairs, and come back, little sheba.
Bus stop by inge, william and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at. Wonderful play with universal themes and timeless characters. Inge was renowned for his indepth character studies, and bus stop is no exception. Dps offers an extensive list of titles that includes many of the most significant plays of the past century. Dramatists play service, one of the premier playlicensing and theatrical publishing agencies in the world, was formed in 1936 to foster national opportunities for playwrights by publishing affordable editions of their plays and handling the performance rights to these works. Based on inges earlier oneact play, people in the wind, bus stop involves a pair of young lovers and their struggle to find love in the modern world. It is set in a diner in rural kansas, about 25 miles west of kansas city, missouri during a snowstorm from which.
Inges plays are some of my favorites because he has the ability to capture so much of human emotion with ingenious brevity. Although the play was written in 1955, it highlights many issues women struggle with today. This assessment was assembled by our professional instructors to test your understanding of the characters, their motivations and the setting of the play, bus stop. Port royal sc theater presents william inges bus stop. It can be lumped with a whole genre of plays in which a restaurant or bar becomes a gathering place for a diverse group of people to air their deeper and surface concerns, either regularly as in the iceman cometh, the night of the iguana or even sitcoms like cheers, or as a result of a disaster like the snowstorm that strands bus stops.
As i said, the cast is capable but no one actor is really outstanding. I had to go and tell em i was takin the midnight bus. As it turned out, it was an actual filmed play as it was seen at the claremont theater in california, directed by peter hunt. Bus stop is a drama, with romantic and some comedic elements. Picnic is a threeact play written by william inge, the author of bus stop and come back, little sheba. This onepage guide includes a plot summary and brief analysis of bus stop by william inge. Bus stop by william inge the play bus stop is set in a diner in early march of 1955. Bus stop by william inge act 1 summary and analysis. Picnic is a threeact play written by william inge, the author of bus stop and. The 1956 film of the same name was opened up in the beginning to include scenes on the bus and in places away from the diner. Inges 1955 script has interesting characters and storyline and it has had many successful productions in the past, including the 1956 film starring marilyn monroe. The hollywood times 11192018 bus stop entertains easily on the level or romantic comedy.
May 3, 19 june 10, 1973 was an american playwright and novelist, whose works typically feature solitary protagonists encumbered with strained sexual relations. Not having a clue as to when this film version of william inges play bus stop had been made into another film, we decided to give it a try. Multiple links are listed since a different versions exist and b many scripts posted become unavailable over time. Bus stop is a somewhat entertaining hillybilly love story between beau, a stubborn, romanticallyinexperienced cowboy in town for the rodeo, and cherie, a showgirl he meets along the way.
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