Bus Stop

Bus Stop Summary | Act 1 Summary

This entire play is set inside a dingy street corner restaurant near a bus stop in a small Kansas town. The timeframe is the 1950s. It is 1 a.m. in March. The cast of characters are Elma Duckworth - a waitress, Grace Hoylard - owner of the restaurant, Will Masters - the town Sheriff, Cherie - a chanteuse, Dr. Gerald Lyman - a former college professor, Carl - a bus driver, Virgil Blessing - a ranch hand, Bo Decker - a young rancher and cowboy.

Due to the blizzard, the café workers, Grace and Elma, are predicting that the café will probably have to stay open late to accommodate the passengers of the bus that will be arriving soon. Will comes in soon after to confirm their prediction and tells them that the telephone lines are down and that the highways are blocked all the way to Topeka.

Grace is in her late thirties or early forties and she is married to a man who tends to wander away from home and stays away for days. She does not get along with him very well even when he is home. Elma is in high school and she is a good student.

Cherie, a young blonde girl, walks in carrying a large straw suitcase. She is around twenty years old with unkempt hair, a sequin and net dress, gilded sandals, brightly enameled toes and a skimpy metal cloth jacket. She has a Southern accent and is from the Ozarks. She immediately goes over to Grace and Elma and asks if she can hide somewhere. She is unable to find a hiding place for and has no money for a hotel. She explains to Will that she needs protection from a cowboy who is asleep on the bus. She says that she met the cowboy at the Blue Dragon nightclub where she worked and that he abducted her while she was making plans to go somewhere else (thus the packed suitcase). Will reassures her that she'll be alright and Elma backs him up by telling Cherie that Will is a religious man and very good at taking care of people. Cherie tells Elma that she was a singer at the nightclub and revels that she had dropped out of school to take care of her siblings. She was separated from her family during a flood and managed to get away with one of her sisters.

Carl, the bus driver, walks in and spars with Will as if they are old friends. Will tells Carl that he should wake up the passengers on the bus so that they do not freeze. Carl and Grace flirt and he tells her that he knows her apartment is upstairs from the restaurant. Carl tells Will that he'll wake up the passengers in the bus but won't be back for a while because he's going to go for a walk for a few hours. Later on, Grace uses the excuse of a headache to get out of the café and to her apartment.

Another passenger from the bus, Dr. Lyman is upset when he learns from Carl that they are still in Kansas. He was expecting to have crossed the state border. He asks for a double shot of whisky but when Elma tells him that they don't sell alcohol, he produces his own and mixes it with a bottle of lemon soda provided by Elma. He strikes up a conversation with Elma and informs her that he has been married three times but is now a free man. He also tells her that he has trouble keeping down a job. In between conversations, he recites poetry and talks about Shakespeare.

The cowboy, Bo Decker and his friend Virgil Blessing, the only two passengers who were left in the bus, walk into the restaurant. Bo is tall, thin, in his early 20s, unkempt. He is wearing faded jeans, boots, a Stetson, a shiny horsehide jacket and a bandana around his neck. Virgil, 40-something, is dressed similar to Bo except that he is a bit tidier. Both men look as if they have just been awoken.

Bo accosts Cherie (or "Cherry" as he calls her) for abandoning him on the bus. Meanwhile, Will keeps trying to get Bo or Virgil to close the café door that they have left open. Eventually, Bo gets into an argument with Will about the door but Virgil calms him down. Temporarily rebuffed, Bo orders food: three raw hamburgers, ham and eggs, potato salad, a piece of lemon pie, a piece of chocolate pie, and a quart of milk.

After eating, Bo tries to be affectionate to Cherie who attempts to avoid his embraces. Bo is flabbergasted at Cherie's resistance because he says that he's unaccustomed to a women turning down his advances. Will intervenes between Bo and Cherie as Bo continues to harass Cherie about the suitcase and her intentions. Frustrated with trying to keep Bo away from Cherie, Will finally tells Bo that Cherie does not love him. Bo gets angry with Will but Virgil intervenes to keep the peace. Will leaves the café but tells everyone that he will be right across the road and easily available if necessary. Bo paces around the café but finally settles down in a seat next to Virgil and is overwhelmed by the possibility that it might be possible for a girl to not love him.