'Bus Stop' is a sentimental journey

BUS STOP, Margetts Theatre, Brigham Young University, Provo, through Nov. 10 (378-4322 or cfac.byu.edu/pe/). Running time: one hour, 50 minutes (one intermission).

PROVO — Whether it be comedy, mystery or drama, the concept of a group of strangers stranded together has long been a favorite way to set up a story and create a little friction. In the new Brigham Young University production of William Inge's "Bus Stop," that classic setup is used to fine effect in a play that is both funny and tender.

"Bus Stop" takes place in Grace's Diner, a small spot in a one-horse Kansas town in the 1950s. Manning the diner are the proprietor, Grace (Amanda Schutz), and her young employee, Elma (Ashley Ogzewalla), a sweet, bright girl who pines for a boyfriend. The local sheriff Will (Kevin Goertzen) seems to be a semi-permanent fixture there as well.

A snowstorm has caused the bus that left Kansas City to hole up at the tiny diner until the flurry subsides and the roads clear up. From the bus comes Carl, the bus driver (Adam Daveline), who shares a not-too-subtle mutual attraction with Grace, and Dr. Lyman (Clay Bunker), a well-read and well-traveled lecherous drunk who goes to work impressing the impressionable Emma.

Also exiting the bus are a nightclub singer with a checkered past, Cherie (Lauren Richmond), and a pair of cowboys Bo (Cort Kirksey), a young bucking bronc of a guy, and Virgil (Logan Miller), Bo's older and wiser friend. Cherie is the reluctant bride-to-be of Bo, who is attempting to whisk her away to his ranch, even though he has little if any idea of how to interact with a woman.

The play is a study of loneliness and love, with the characters having to confront, one way or another, the lives they lead. By the end of the play, much like life, some lives have changed while most continue to drift along on the same course.

The play was chosen by BYU's department of theater as a way to showcase and challenge some of the department's departing seniors, and they have picked a great ensemble work to accomplish this. Each actor is given a complex and interesting character to play, and the cast rises to the occasion.

There is a sense of familiarity and realism imbued by the cast, leaving the audience feeling a little like just another stranded bus passenger sitting in the coffee shop, killing time by watching whatever human drama presents itself.

In the main love story, Kirksey does a nice job of bringing out the confusion beneath Bo's bombast, and Richmond captures Cherie's contrast of being both willful and easily willed all.

Sensitivity rating: "Bus Stop" tactfully tackles some mature themes and sexual issues in a more frank manner than you normally would expect to find in a BYU production.

---

E-mail: p_thunell@hotmail.com