The play Bus Stop is set in a restaurant in a town 30 miles west of Kansas City in the 1950s. There is a blizzard outside. The main characters are Grace, the restaurant owner; Elma, a waitress; Cherie, a singer; Dr. Lyman, a retired professor; Carl, a bus driver; Virgil, a ranch hand; and Bo, a young cowboy. Bo falls for Cherie but she is unsure about love, while Grace and Elma have relationships with Carl and Dr. Lyman respectively. The theme of love and loneliness is explored through these characters.

1. Bus Stop-Costume
Designer
Stephanie Rodriguez
Group 92

2. Place and Time
• Bus Stop is set in a restaurant in a town about 30 miles west
of Kansas City
• The time frame is 1950’s
• There is a snow blizzard in the town.

3. Characters of the Play
• Elma Duckworth,
waitress
• Grace Hoylard,
owner of the
restaurant
• Will Masters, sheriff
• Cherie, a chanteuse
• Dr. Gerald Lyman, a
former college
professor
• Carl, a bus driver
• Virgil Blessing, ranch
hand
• Bo Decker, young
rancher and cowboy

4. Relationships among characters
Grace Hoylard and Carl
Elma and Dr. Gerald
Lyman
Cherie and Bo Decker
Bo Decker and Virgil Blessing

5. Significance of Individual
Characters
• The theme of love and loneliness is a reoccurring theme and
the following characters help symbolize that:
• Bo falls in love with Cherie because he thinks that he can give
meaning to his life back in his ranch in Montana where he is
lonely.
• Cherie wishes she knew what love is because she is tired of just
being loved for her sexuality which makes her feel lonely.
• Dr. Lyman will always have that constant state of being lonely
because he has never had the generosity to show true love.
• Virgil has shown his fatherly love to Bo by always staying by his
side but at the end he does become lonely because he chooses to
start his own life.

6. Elma Duckworth
• Big eyed waitress still
in high school whom
works in the
restaurant
• Personality traits:
innocent, naive

7. Grace Hoylard
• Early thirties or
forties
• Owner of the
restaurant
• Personality traits:
loves good fights and
craves the attention
of a good man

8. Will Masters
• A sheriff who is a tall
and rather huge man
• Personality traits: a
rather respected
sheriff of the town
who fulfills his duties

9. Cherie
• A young twenty year
old who is a
Singer/entertainer
and used to work at a
club
• Personality traits:
energetic and wishes
to find what real love
is

10. Dr. Gerald Lyman
• Retired
professor, middle
aged man
• Personality traits: has
a passion for
literature, very
intelligent and
knowledgeable, has a
taste for young
women and has
drinking problems

11. Carl
• Bus driver
• Personality traits: has
a “passing through”
relationship with
Grace

12. Virgil Blessing
• Ranch hand in the
age of the forties
• Personality traits: he
is a paternal figure to
Bo who watches out
for him and helps Bo
with his ranch

13. Bo Decker
• 20 year old cowboy
from Minnesota
• Personality traits:
hardheaded, wild, but he
is kind-hearted at the
same time