1. The Bus Stop
By William Inge
Group 8
• Director :
• Costume Designer :
• Set Designer :
• Lights :
Kevin Benny
Andre Porter
Andres Oberhauser
Markus Price

2. THE DIRECTOR’S NOTES
Bus Stop by William Inge
Director : Kevin Benny

3. INITIAL
THOUGHTS
•
While reading the play, I could
imagine the lonely isolated aspect
of the play really coming out
through the portrayal of a almost
empty diner in the night and that
too, in the middle of a snowstorm.
The blizzard is really powerful in
this scene as it emphasizes the
helplessness of man in the face of
nature.
Nighthawks by Edward Hopper
• After looking for pointers, I found a
painting by Edward Hopper that
perfectly symbolized everything that
had gone through my mind while
reading the play. The painting was
titled Nighthawks and was one of a
diner in the middle of the night with
few people in it.

4. •
Since Bus Stop was a script that was performed earlier, I looked up some of the
aspects of the earlier productions and drew from them, what I thought would be the
best for mine.
• Some of the common aspects that I would like
to have in our production is the walls of the
diners filled with old trinkets and memorabilia.
The red barstool chairs as the counter and
those checkered tablecloths.
• The rest of the ideas were
discussed with the set designer
and the lights technician to create
something that is both apt and
feasible.

5. CAST
•
Thinking up a hypothetical cast for a hypothetical production was harder than I
imagined. I would have liked to have gone through auditions and tryouts to see
who best fit the roles as in this particular script, it is the actors that are the
ones who lead the play, not outside events like some other plays.
• As I read the script, I could see some of the
characters already forming themselves in my
mind.
• In a perfect world, I would cast
Meryl Streep to be Grace
Hoylard.
• And Ellen Page as Elma
Duckworth

6. •
Harrison Ford as Will Masters, the Sheriff.
• Kyle Chandler as Dr. Gerald Lyman
• Reese Witherspoon as Cherie
• The rest can only be chosen
according to their ability to
perform the role. I left this
for a later time.

7. ASPECTS OF THE SCRIPT
•
Thinking of a spine for the script, I thought of how the characters seemed more
cliché every time they spoke. Also the fact that there was some sort of attraction
that was present between every single person in that diner. This is what I felt was
the driving motion of the script.
• Bottom line, the spine could be
vaguely summarized as “Love comes
in very different and sometimes even
opposite forms.”

8. •
When it comes to the style of the production, I was initially hit with a mental
roadblock. I wanted to do something different from the other productions but
not so far away as to make it seem like an entirely different script.
• I had an idea of what I wanted, a casual bus
stop diner where some folks from all walks of
life converged. Almost a realistic style which
in essence covers all the characters'’
experiences.

9. Set designer: Andres Oberhauser

10. 
Since “Bus Stop” is set in the
1950’s in a Kansas City diner, it
would be integral to the flow of
the play to create a realistic
environment that went with the
era. Initially, we felt that the
atmosphere should be dreary as
the characters anticipate being
stranded at the stop due to a
snowstorm. The image above and
below conveys both these aspects
perfectly.

11. 
Our inspiration for the
outside of the bus stop
comes from the painting
“Nighthawks” by Edward
Hopper. The colorfulness
of the diner on the inside
sits perfectly juxtaposed
against a dull, dreary
outside. We felt that this
motif goes along well with
the play, as the characters
are all seeking shelter
from something outside
the diner, whether it’s the
storm or just the
normality of their lives.
Using this as a base idea, I
sought to create a more
authentic 1950’s look to
the diner. The lowest left
image portrays the final
rendition of what we
would like the outside of
the bus stop to look like.

12. The play is almost
entirely dialogue
driven and the
background does
not change, since
all the characters
are stranded
inside the diner
for the duration
of the play. For
this reason, we
felt that the
background of
the play needs to
be just as
interesting as the
characters
themselves.
Instead of just a
dull, dreary bus
stop we decided
to add
paintings, posters
, and various
other aesthetics to
create an
authentic and
imposing
background.

13. The Bus Stop
Costumes
Bus stop was a romantic comedy that is set in a diner
about 25 miles west of Kansas City in early March
1955, during a snow storm
Costume Designer : Andre Porter

14.  Grace Hoylard and Elma Duckworth would wear plain
dresses that would be pink because there waitresses.
Cherie would wear a fancy dress which would be red
because she is wanna be nightclub singer. They would
also have a nice coat on and stockings because its cold
outside.

15.  Dr. Gerald Lyman would wear clothes that are some what like suit
because he is a college professor. Bo and Virgil are cowboys so they
would wear a plad shirt with pants and cowboy boots and the
necktie. They wouldn’t wear hats for this production because I don’t
want the hats to hide there faces and ruin their hard work as
actors. All of them would have on coats on because its cold.

16.  Will Masters would wear the regular cop uniform. Last but not
least carl is a bus driver so he would wear a regular white or
blue button down shirt with black pants and dress shoes with
a white bus driver hat.

17. Markus Price

18.  The play Bus Stop is set in a diner that the characters
are restricted to due to harsh weather conditions.
 All areas where action occurs should be lit at all times to
with little to no variation to dramatize the length of time
spent in the diner in stillness.

20.  To create a sense of being bound by the weather, the
lighting should gravitate towards the center to the stage
and set.
 All surrounding areas of the focal points should be dim.
This creates a night time or harsh weather feeling to the
stage.

22.  Blue hues and soft lighting should be applied to the
scenes to create the vibe that snowstorm would
naturally.
 Blues are also indicative of somber moods which are
conveyed by Grace and Elma in Act I when discussing
their love lives or lack there of.

24.  Bus Stop was set in the 1950’s in Kansas City, Missouri.
 Soft lighting is most appropriate for this play because
bright and bold lighting is more indicative of a
glamorous, modern, and exciting setting. All
characteristics that are not representative of 1950’s
Missouri.

26.  The interesting moments in this play all come from the
characters reactions to their confinement. The lighting
should be set and should stay the same for the majority
of the duration of the play to show the lack of change in
their current predicament.

28.  The central visual image I would choose for the play
would be the windows. From the windows the audience
can see weather, chaos, and whatever else their mind
allows them to see. The windows and the lighting effects
from them can effect the entire mood of the play to
create the right environment.

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