Bus Stop Tickets

By: William Inge
Director: Jack Cummings III
Producer: Classic Stage Company, NAATCO, Transport Group
Cast list: Midori Francis (as Cherie), Delphi Borich (as Elma), Rajesh Bose (as Dr. Lyman), Cindy Cheung (as Grace), David Lee Huynh (as Will), Dorcas Leung (as Cherie), Michael Hsu Rosen (as Bo), David Shih (as Carl), Moses Villarama (as Virgil)
Sets: Peiyi Wong
Costumes: Mariko Ohigashi
Lighting: R. Lee Kennedy

Bus Stop is an American classic and a hit play from the dubbed “playwright of the Midwest,” William Inge, who showed New York audiences, until then, less-heard voices and characters from the country’s heartland. Bus Stop is a prime example of that kind of work: bringing together dreamers and runaways, cowboys and waitresses, the play illuminates how a diner can be an oasis and strange haven for community.

On a wintry night in Kansas, bus riders take shelter in a small-town diner to wait out a storm. Together, over just a few shared hours, their lives are transformed as a grab bag of characters come to share a haven, and unexpected warmth, with one another. Now, the play is given fresh meaning by featuring the first professional cast of all Asian American and Pacific Islander actors. A deeply soulful play, Bus Stop is a timeless piece thanks to its universal themes of finding community across social differences and needing one another in the face of unexpected hardship.

What to watch for

• True to its mission, Classic Stage often remounts beloved plays and musicals in exciting ways, as with recent productions of Assassins and A Man of No Importance.
• Performed at Classic Stage, this play is a co-production with National Asian American Theatre Company and Transport Group.
• The original Broadway run received multiple Tony Award nominations, including for Best Play and for actress and theatre legend Elaine Stritch.
• In 1956, Joshua Logan directed a film adaptation of the play starring Marilyn Monroe and Don Murray, who received an Oscar nomination.