Midori Francis and Delphi Borich Photo by Carol Rosegg

In his review of a British production in 2011, Alfred Hickling compared the play to "an Edward Hopper painting with dialogue." It's a particularly apt description for the version presently on view. The setting is a diner in a small Kansas town, and Peiyi Wong's spot-on scenic design seems to pay homage to Hopper's "Nighthawks." A foot-high barrier surrounds the playing space, and a large wooden frame hangs above. The audience is at a remove from the action, and the impression is akin to looking into the restaurant through large plate-glass windows, áa la Hopper. (Mariko Ohigashi's period costumes effectively capture a romanticized depiction of the 1950s.)

The figures in the theatricalized portrait gradually come into focus. Grace Hoylard (Cindy Cheung) is the sardonic proprietor, and high schooler Elma Duckworth (Delphi Borich) is her cheerful assistant. Along with the moralistic town sheriff Will Masters (Ðavid Lee Huynh), they are waiting for an intercity bus that has been delayed due to an incapacitating blizzard. The bus driven by flirtatious and sly Carl (David Shih) arrives, and the four stranded passengers settle into the diner for the night.

Cherie (Midori Francis) was born and raised in the Ozarks and dreams of Hollywood stardom. A nightclub singer in Kansas City, she fashions herself a "chanteuse" and is unaware that her adopted French name means "dear one." Cherie has been abducted by Bo Decker (Michael Hsu Rosen), a young rancher and cowboy who intends to marry her and take her to his Montana ranch. Accompanying him is Virgil Blessing (Moses Villarama), his friend and mentor, who offers Bo guidance on relationships and how to treat women. Finally, Dr. Gerald Lyman (Rajesh Bose) is a hard-drinking, academic blowhard with a penchant for underage women.

During the course of the long night, the play zooms in on the fraught relationships. These are ordinary people, and in some cases not too bright, but Inge does not condescend to them. Additionally, while many of the circumstances, such as the forced kidnapping and the shamed professor's seduction of the teen-aged waitress, are quite off-putting, Cummings and the company make them tolerable. Francis's Cherie is both naïve and clueless, but she is strong willed and resilient. Rosen's Bo is blustery and preening, yet he wilts like an adolescent after a scolding. Their contest of wills is reminiscent of a modern-day Catherine and Petruchio.

Similarly, Bose's Lyman is initially repellant. However, as the character's layers of rejection and sadness are peeled away, and as Borich, who is charming as Grace, plies her infectious enthusiasm, there is a sense of redemption. The lecherous character becomes more sympathetic.

The play also elicits compassion because of its pervasive feeling of disconnection and solitude. At some point, each character describes their feelings of longing. In an especially poignant moment, Bo reveals his own experiences with loneliness. He asks Virgil, "Don't you ever git lonesome, too?" Virgil responds, "A long time ago, I gave up romancin' and decided I was just gonna take bein' lonesome for granted." Loneliness, Inge suggests, is as diverse in its manifestations as love is in its many forms.

To his credit, Cummings's direction mostly balances the play's fluctuating comic and dramatic elements adroitly. The script drops into the conversations throughout the diner, and the staging benefits from a cinematic quality in which the audience's focus shifts from place to place and table to table. (R. Lee Kennedy's subtle lighting effects provide the theatrical equivalents of fade-outs, close-ups, and dissolve-to's). At the performance I attended, the cast still seemed to be finding its rhythm, as there was occasional dead air in some of the transitions. Additionally, the thrust stage design means that audience members in certain seats will miss key lines or emotions.

Still, this Bus Stop is worth a visit. Inge created an endearing and enduring romantic comedy, but as the play's devastating final line and image imply, joy and companionship don't stick around for long.