Port Polson Players launch season with “Bus Stop”
Veronica Marquardt is Cherie and Kai McDonald is Bo Decker in the Port Polson Players' production of "Bus Stop." (Karen Lewing/Port Polson Players)
The Port Polson Players, in association with Mission Valley Friends of the Arts, begins their 49th season of live theatre with "Bus Stop" by William Inge. A cast of eight popular Mission Valley performers brings the classic comedy/drama to Polson's Theatre on the Lake for two weekends, Nov. 10-19.
Nominated for four Tony Awards, the popular Broadway show was later made into the 1956 film starring Marilyn Monroe and Don Murray. In the Port Polson Players’ version, Veronica Marquardt plays saloon singer Cherie and Kai McDonald is brash young cowboy Bo Decker in the roles made famous by Monroe and Murray.
The play, set in Grace’s Diner in the 1950s during a blizzard, brims with comedy, love and drama as the cast of strangers get to know each other. "There is something beguiling about this forlorn slice of Americana, which mediates on the distances between towns and the distances between people, like an Edward Hopper painting with dialogue," wrote The Guardian.
Players' producers Neal and Karen Lewing say the last time they produced "Bus Stop" was in 1991, with Wanda Burnett as Cherie and Mike Rosatti as Bo Decker.
“Bus Stop” also kicks off the Mission Valley Friends of the Arts annual membership drive. Tax-deductible contributions help maintain and renovate the historic log theatre building on the Polson golf course that has housed the Port Polson Players since 1986.
Show times are 7 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays with Sunday matinees at 2 p.m. Make reservations by calling 406-883-9212 or online at portpolsonplayers.com.