Sachem East Drama Puts on Production of Bus Stop

The Sachem East Drama Club's production of William Inge's three-act romantic drama Bus Stop was impeccably produced and directed by Ken Dobbins, and may leave theatergoers wishing for snow.

The play is set in a diner in rural Kansas during a freak snowstorm circa 1955, from which colorful passengers on a bus must seek rufuge in the wee hours of the night.  The diner is owned by the lonely, but lively, youngish widow, Grace, played by Samantha Meadows, who exuded warmth and a maturity far beyond her years.

Grace's diner has no cheese, no rye bread and no liquor — in other words it has nothing that the stranded passengers want, but, maybe, everything that they need.

Grace and her waitress Elma, a sharp, but innocent high school student played by Ashley Iadanza, are unexpectedly joined by five late-night visitors looking for any port in a storm, including Professor Lymen, played by Ryan Fazziola, whose physical transformation into a middle-aged college professor was as remarkable as his acting in the role.  He managed to make the drunken, lecherous pedagogue appear both charming and sympathetic.

Also making the trip was Cherie, in the role Marilyn Monroe, received high-praise for portraying in the film adaptation, which was played here by the adorable and charismatic Katelyn Onufrey.  Cherie added some glitz and glamour to the cozy, but bland setting as the pretty, blonde small-time nightclub singer hailing from a difficult upbringing in the Ozarks; where she grew up fast.

Onufrey had the character's "hillbilly" accent down pat, and sounded completely natural and consistent throughout the two-hour performance.

Cherie had been "kidnapped" by Bo, an overbearing, raw meat eating cowboy with an insatiable appetite for diner grub, and for Cherie, who wants nothing to do with him.

Bo was traveling with his sidekick Virgil, an older, wiser cowboy and father figure to the orphaned Bo, played with understated gravitas by Kyle Berube.

The bus driver, Carl, who may or may not have a wife waiting for him at home, played roguishly by Casey Keenan, has been having an ongoing two ships passing in the night kind of relationship with Grace, and the two of them took this opportunity  to steal away for an extended assignation.

In the meantime, Bo, played by Ryan DeRobertis, chased Cherie around the table, while Professor Lymen recited poetry and verses of Shakespeare to the naive, and enthralled, waitress.

Then Will, the hard-nosed, but good natured local sheriff storms in, acted with authority by Dylan Gafarian, to rescue Cherie from the brutish Bo.

A highlight of the first-rate and professional ensemble performance was Onufrey's bewitching rendition of the song "That Old Black Magic."

During the course of the night, Cherie and Elma confide in one another about their hopes and dreams, in one of the play's most poignant moments.   

"Who am I to keep insisting I should fall in love," the singer wondered to Elma who idealistically expects people to fall in love and stay in love.  This prompted the thrice-divorced professor, well on his way to becoming falling down drunk after spiking his drink, to ponder about whether man has evolved passed being able to be in love, being too preoccupied with his own survival.  After which he concluded with a swig and a shrug, "Whether there is love or not we can always pretend there is."

The set conveyed an impressive verisimilitude, with swinging doors, falling snow, and sound effects of whipping winds roaring outside the solace of Grace's diner.

The actors never broke character for an instant, and the audience appeared utterly captivated throughout.

Several high school couples sitting arm in arm during the performance may have left with some big questions regarding the nature of love, after seeing this thought-provoking and timeless reminder of the enduring importance of theatre and the arts to entertain and enlighten.

Check Sachem Patch this weekend for a review of North's production of "Putnam County Spelling Bee"