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<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Actors’ Summit
captures the Inge-enuity of ‘Bus Stop’<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Bob
Abelman<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Cleveland Jewish
News<o:p></o:p></SPAN></I></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Member, International
Association of Theatre Critics <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">This review will
appear in the <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Cleveland Jewish News
</I>on 3/7/14<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">During the 1950s,
William Inge created a niche for himself by writing a series of well-crafted
plays – “Come Back, Little Sheba,” “Picnic,” and “Bus Stop” – that give voice to
average Americans by dramatizing their world of the ordinary.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>These plays are about small people, in
small places, with small problems.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>But their problems become intriguing upon close examination and are
intensified when placed in a self-contained arena of confrontation.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>“Bus Stop” is currently
under close examination by Actors’ Summit in downtown Akron.
<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">In “Bus Stop,” a blizzard strands
several bus passengers </SPAN><SPAN class=b170la67q55><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang=EN>in a
</SPAN></SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">small-town
roadside diner about 30 miles west of Kansas City, Missouri.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>They are Cherie (Llewie Nunez), a
pretty, promiscuous southern lounge singer; Bo (Dean Coutris), a young cowboy
who is smitten with Cherie’s sexuality and is taking her to his Montana ranch
against her will; Virgil (Bill Hoffman), Bo's senior ranch-hand and confidant;
and Dr. Gerald Lyman (Doug Hendel), a thrice-divorced, unemployable academician
with a taste for whisky, young girls and Shakespeare.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>These people are held
captive by Mother Nature but, mostly, by human nature, and are anxious to get on
with their done-nothing, go-nowhere lives.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>Inge’s plays boil down to
universal themes and, in the case of “Bus Stop,” that theme is loneliness in its
many mutations.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>During his brief
stay at the diner, the lecherous and drunken Dr. Lyman seeks solace in Elma
(Rebecca Ribley), a starry-eyed teenage waitress.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Grace (Elizabeth Lawson), the well-worn
owner of the diner, beds bus driver Carl (Jim Fippin) in lieu of her vanished
husband.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Bo and Cherie dull their
respective pain and isolation by engaging in their crazy courtship while Virgil
stands ever vigil at the cowboy’s side and the local lawman (Alex Nine) watches
for signs of trouble. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>Humorous at times and
poignant to the bones at others, “Bus Stop” is also layered with an omnipresent
sense of melancholy.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Hope is within
the reach of each of these characters, but it is as fleeting as Grace and Carl’s
coupling, as tainted as Dr. Lyman’s rye-bated breath, and as superficial as Bo
and Cherie’s relationship. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>This Actors’ Summit
production, under Ric Goodwin’s delicate direction, is all that a production of
“Bus Stop” should be.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>Rich and textured
portrayals are turned in by a cast of uniformly stellar performers as they
listen intently to each other’s words, process their meaning in stunning
silence, and respond in earnest.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>They mine all the meaning the playwright has put into this story, unveil
all the raw emotion that plays out in the storytelling, and manage to do so with
incredible charm and tenderness.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>And the melancholy is palatable.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>All the performances are
superb, but Nunez is breathtaking as Cherie.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>She is particularly so when allowing
fleeting glimpses of the damaged goods that reside underneath her flirtatious
smile.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Her body language
simultaneously invites and repels affection, which Coutris’ Bo responds to with
a perfect blending of desire and confusion.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>Also noteworthy is the
remarkable understatement with which Hendel reveals Dr. Lyman’s self-loathing,
which serves as a painful but perfect counterpoint to the blind admiration
generated by Ribley’s innocent Elma.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">This is Inge done
well, performed on a realistic and appropriately appointed set built and
designed under Kevin Rutan's supervision.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
This production </SPAN>is as entertaining as it is moving, which makes for
a wonderful and valuable evening of theater.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">What:<SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 2">
</SPAN>“Bus Stop<SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic">”<o:p></o:p></SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P
style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic">Where:<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1">
</SPAN>Actors’ Summit, </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Greystone Hall in
downtown Akron<SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic">
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P
style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic">When:<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1">
</SPAN>Through Sunday, March 9<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 1.0in 5.25in"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic">Tickets:<SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1">
</SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">$10 - $33, call
330-374-7568 or visit <A href=""><FONT
color=#0000ff>www.actorssummit.org</FONT></A><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 1.0in 5.25in"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>