Bristol Riverside Theatre Stages BUS STOP, Now thru 10/18

Bristol Riverside Theatre opens its 2015-2016 season with the classic romantic comedy Bus Stop by Pulitzer Prize-winner William Inge, running tonight, September 29-October 18. Directed by Susan D. Atkinson, the ensemble cast features Broadway veteran Mark Jacoby joined by Mike Boland, Linda Elizabeth, Barbara McCullough, Bruce Sabath, David Sitler, Grant Struble, and Jessica Wagner.

Previews begin Tuesday, September 29 with opening night on Thursday, October 1. Performances run Tuesday through Sunday until October 18. Tickets start at $32, with discounts for students, groups and military personnel. Tickets are available by visiting brtstage.org or calling the BRT Box Office at 215-785-0100. Bristol Riverside Theatre is located at 120 Radcliffe Street in Bristol, PA.

In this heartwarming and poignant play, a busload of travelers seek warmth and shelter when they are stranded at a Kansas diner waiting out a snowstorm. An undertow of sex, lies, and a touch of perversity are served to this motley crew, including a young loudmouthed cowboy bent on marrying a nightclub singer against her will, a pretentious professor, wise-cracking waitresses, and the peace-keeping sheriff, as they spend a night together filled with love, laughter, and heartache.

Susan D. Atkinson (Director) theatrical career spans 40 years of directing and producing on both the east and west coasts. She has directed well over 150 plays and musicals in her career, including world and area premieres from such playwrights and composers as Doug Katsoras, Mark St. Germain, Jon Marans, Alan Knee and Larry Gatlin. For BRT, Atkinson directed last season's smash hit Always...Patsy Cline, as well as Enemy of the People, Tuesdays with Morrie, Little Shop of Horrors, What A Glorious Feeling and Inherit The Wind, The Good Earth, Wintertime, Irma La Douce, Alive and Well, The Price, 110 in the Shade, A Sunbeam, Inspecting Carol, A Moon for the Misbegotten, Arsenic and Old Lace, A Little Night Music, Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill, Holiday, Talley's Folly, Proof, Little Women, A Raw Space and Steel Magnolias. In 1998, Atkinson directed Larry Gatlin's Texas Flyer both here at BRT and at Theatre Under the Stars in Houston, Texas.

Mike Boland (Will) appeared on Broadway in An Enemy of the People and in the national tours of West Side Story and Twelve Angry Men, which won the 2008 Broadway Guild Award for Best Play. He also starred Off-Broadway in Orphans' Home Cycle which was the winner of the 2010 New York Drama Critics and Lucille Lortel Awards for Best Play. Regionally he has been a frequent guest at Hartford Stage and Long Wharf Theatre as well as at Fulton Theatre and Virginia Theatre.

Linda Elizabeth (Elma) makes her BRT debut with this production. She has appeared regionally in several productions at Hofstra Shakespearean Festival, Instant Shakespeare Company, and The Producer's Club as well as Hudson Shakespeare Company, Manhattan Repertory Festival, Manhattan Theatre Source, and Upper Westside Garden Players.

Mark Jacoby (Dr. Gerald Lyman) has starred on Broadway in Elf, Sweeney Todd, Man of La Mancha, Ragtime, and Showboat, for which he received Tony Award and Outer Critics Award nominations. In addition to winning the Barrymore Award for Fiddler on the Roof at Walnut Street Theatre, he has won a Joseph Jefferson Award for Nine at Candlelight Theatre and a Connecticut Drama Critic's Award for On the Twentieth Century at Goodspeed Opera House, and received a Helen Hayes nomination for The Visit at Signature Theater and a Barrymore nomination for 42nd Street at Walnut Street Theatre.

Barbara McCulloh (Grace Howland) is a BRT favorite, having been featured in Steel Magnolias, Blithe Spirit, The Skin of Our Teeth, Baby, The Robber Bridegroom, and 110 in the Shade which earned her a Barrymore nomination. She has appeared on Broadway as Anna in The King and I and as Mrs. Darling in Peter Pan, at Lincoln Center in The House in Town, and on the national tours of Brighton Beach Memoirs, South Pacific, and Peter Pan. Off-Broadway she has performed at Manhattan Theatre Club and Jewish Rep where she won the Outer Circle Critics Award for Kuni Leml. Other regional credits include performances at Studio Arena, Pioneer Theater, Syracuse Stage, and Virginia Stage.

Bruce Sabath (Virgil Blessing) appeared on Broadway in the Tony Award-winning revival of Company as well as in Hello Again, which was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Best Revival, and Jerusalem Syndrome, for which he won a NYMF Award. He has also starred in Brooklyn Boy at Florida Studio Theatre, where he earned a Hardy Award, and in Fiddler on the Roof at Stages St. Louis, which garnered a BWW Award for Best Actor.

David Sitler (Carl) appeared on Broadway in An Inspector Calls and in the national tour of Frost/Nixon. His other New York credits include Donnybrook and Beyond the Horizon, both at Irish Rep Theatre. Regionally he has been featured at Goodspeed Opera House, South Carolina Rep, Florida Studio Theatre, Illinois Shakespeare, and New Jersey Rep.

Grant Struble (Bo Decker) makes his BRT debut following his recent graduation from Temple University. In addition to appearing in Macbeth and A Midsummer Night's Dream at Saratoga Shakespeare Company, he has been featured in several productions at Temple Theatre and Tempest in a Teapot Company.

Jessica Wagner (Cherie) returns to BRT where she starred in the title role of Always...Patsy Cline. She has starred in numerous productions at Forestburgh Playhouse including The Sound of Music, Spamalot and Avenue Q, and in My Fair Lady at Ocean State Theatre Company. She has been featured in cabaret performances at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Town Hall and Joe's Pub at The Public Theatre.

Bus Stop brings together the creative team of BRT veterans set designer Nels Anderson, costume designer Linda Bee Stockton, lighting designer Deborah Constantine and sound designer Amy Altadonna.

BRT's mainstage season continues with Mountain: The Journey of Justice Douglas by Douglas Scott (November 3 - November 22, 2015), The Language Archive by Julia Cho (January 26 - February 14), Rumors by Neil Simon (March 22 - April 17) and Man of La Mancha starring Robert Newman with music by Mitch Leigh, lyrics by Joe Darion, and book by Dale Wasserman (May 10 -June 5).

Since 1986, BRT has brought consistently acclaimed professional theatre to Bucks County and maintains a long-term commitment to finding and developing new plays. The theatre is the recipient of 81 Barrymore Award nominations for Excellence in Theatre, given annually by Theatre Philadelphia. In addition to its mainstage productions, the theatre serves as a cultural hub for the community, with such programs as children's theatre, community concerts and exhibitions of local visual arts. Currently under the direction of Artistic Director Keith Baker, Founding Director Susan D. Atkinson, and Managing Director Jameson Gilpatrick, BRT begins its 29th season. For information, visit www.brtstage.org.

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