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The PCC Theater Department will be presenting “Bus Stop,” a drama-comedy popularized in 1956 through a film adaptation starring Marilyn Monroe.The play, about disparate lives that intersect at a roadside diner during a snowstorm, is directed by Whitney Rydbeck from a script by William Inge.

“It deals with themes of isolation, longing for love, loneliness and surviving. The characters are all survivors, but they’re also all regular folk,” said Rydbeck before a preview last week.

His assistant director, Mike Alva, spoke on what the position demanded of him.

“I originally took the role of assistant director, because I wanted to do something different. I didn’t realize how much work it would be, though. Even when I was at my actual job, I was still doing things for the production. The main job is staying two steps ahead of him and making sure his head is screwed on right,” Alva joked with Rydbeck.

Alva, like Rydbeck, chalked up a considerable amount of the production’s success to the cast’s chemistry.
“Once we started, we realized how perfect the casting was. The plot really depends on the chemistry. For example, you’ve got to believe Bo and Virgil are good friends,” said Alva.

The cast the two directors talked so proudly of includes 21-year-old theater arts major Evan Langley. He spoke on his character, Professor Lyman.

“He’s a very learned person who loves the idea of love, but who’s never obtained it. He’s been studying love in literature all his life, but he’s never been able to experience it, which is a very humbling idea for him. He uses alcohol to escape his hard life.”

The cast is quick to credit the script with bringing out the best in them. Chelsea Bearce, 27-year-old illustration major, who plays diner owner Grace, was one of them.

“There’s hidden humor everywhere and after rehearsing, we’re finding it more and more,” she said.
Sabrina Hipp, 21-year-old women’s studies major, plays Cherie, the role Marilyn Monroe tackled in the prime of her career.

At her director’s urging, Hipp hadn’t watched the film until a few days prior to the previews, to avoid her performance being colored by Monroe’s portrayal. “I feel like I really came into my own with the character,” she said.

On the night of the first preview, Hipp took a stab at character analysis: “Cherie is very na’ve, but at the same time, she can be very perceptive and intuitive. She has this very set idea of what she wants in life, but she starts to question all of that.”

Director Rydbeck explained why an audience might like to see “Bus Stop” some 50 years after it was written.
“It’s an old chestnut. There’s great depth in this play. [The cast] really wanted to do right by it. We were very particular, very meticulous about finding the nuances in these people. The material is so good,” Rydbeck said.

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