'Bus Stop' is back, and an opening-night success in Auburn

The Placer Community Theater players recently opened a series of eight performances of "Bus Stop" at Auburn's General Gomez Arts. A full house showed its appreciation for a highly professional production of the 1955 play by William Inge. Many will remember the film adaptation in 1956 with Marilyn Monroe in a starring role. The play runs through Sunday, Sept. 24, and fans will not want to miss a wonderful evening filled with love and humor. "Bus Stop" performances had to be canceled earlier this year, but the Placer Community Theater brought back its talented cast and crew to return this wonderful play to the stage, directed by Philip Jacques. "Bus Stop" is the touching story of a footloose torch singer who knows too much about men, and a cowboy who doesn't know enough about women. The combination is truly electric! The play is set in a diner about 25 miles west of Kansas City in early March 1955. A freak snowstorm has halted the bus, and the eight characters (five on the bus) have a weather-enforced layover in the diner from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. Romantic or quasi-romantic relationships include Grace and Carl, Professor Lyman and Elma, and Cherie and Bo. Virgil and Will are the older authority figures outside the relationships. Produced on Broadway, "Bus Stop" was nominated for four Tony awards in 1956. It received major revivals in the United States and United Kingdom in 2010 and 2011. "Bus Stop" was adapted as a 1956 film of the same name, directed by Joshua Logan and starring Monroe and Don Murray. It was adapted as a 26-episode TV series, produced by ABC. A special theater production from the Claremont Theater in California was aired in 1982 on HBO. Inge's inspiration of boy-pursuing-girl for "Bus Stop" came from a similar situation he'd seen on a bus trip to Kansas City. In Inge's small-town dramas, the most prosaic of people are found in the most ordinary of circumstances. His characters are not larger than life; rather, they are all too human. Performances are scheduled Sept. 16 at 2 p.m. and 7:30, Sept. 17 at 2 p.m., Sept. 22 and 23 at 7:30 p.m. and Sept. 24, at 2 p.m. at General Gomez Arts, 808 Lincoln Ave. Advanced ticket prices are $25 for general seating and $30 at the door. Get tickets at http://www.placercommunitytheater.org.