Y’all come down for a love song to family, friends and fried chicken presented by NewBridge Bank, April 6 – May 4, 2014
(Greensboro, NC) — Triad Stage’s Lucky Season continues with Pump Boys and Dinettes with book, lyrics and music by John Foley, Mark Hardwick, Debra Monk, Cass Morgan, John Schimmel and Jim Wann. Somewhere between Frog Level and Smyrna, North Carolina, way down on Highway 57, the ‘Pump Boys’ sell high octane and the ‘Dinettes’ serve up plenty of pie and sass at the Double Cupp Diner next door. Together they fashion an evening of stories and country songs that will have you stompin’ and yellin’ for more. With heartache and hilarity, they perform the stories of their lives on guitars, piano, bass and – believe it or not – kitchen utensils. With its Tarheel roots, Pump Boys and Dinettes is a love story to family, friends and fried chicken. Pump Boys and Dinettes runs April 6 – May 4, 2014. Opening Night is Friday, April 11. The production is sponsored by NewBridge Bank with additional support from Senn Dunn Insurance, Piedmont Natural Gas and Dixon Hughes Goodman, LLP.
Directed by Bryan Conger, Pump Boys and Dinettes is part variety show, part musical, part revue, part concert and all very much rooted in North Carolina. As one of the first musicals in which the actors played their own instruments and accompaniment, Pump Boys and Dinettes “is all about community and the bonds we form around great stories and music found along every highway and small town in America,” explains Conger. As he and scenic designer Timothy R. Mackabee approached Pump Boys and Dinettes, they soon found that it transcended specifics and it became a homage to times past. “This diner and gas station have stopped in time,” says Conger. “You can still find those great places in North Carolina. Where time slows down, life is simple and it’s refreshing, it’s like coming home. I hope that’s what the audience feels when they walk in—it’s like coming home again.”
ABOUT THE PRODUCTION
The creative team includes: director and choreographer Bryan Conger, scenic designer Timothy R. Mackabee (Shipwrecked!), costume designer Kendra Weeks (Triad Stage debut), lighting designer Jesse Belsky (Kingdom of Earth, Shipwrecked!) and sound designer Jon Fredette (Wait Until Dark, The Woman in Black). The music director is Justin P. Cowan, choreographer is Sara Tourek, the vocal coach is Christine Morris and the movement coach is Denise Gabriel. Cindi Rush is the casting director, and the stage manager is Emily J. Mails.
THE CAST
The multi-talented musical cast includes a mix of new and returning faces to Triad Stage. The returning cast includes Georgia Rogers Farmer, last seen at Triad Stage in Das Barbecü as well as her yearly Valentine’s Cabaret performance in The UpStage Cabaret, is Prudie Cupp, and Rob Kahn (A Christmas Carol, Wait Until Dark, My Fair Lady) is Jim. New faces include Aaron Bond as Eddie, Gabe Bowling as Jackson and Gwendolyn Jones as Rhetta Cupp.
ABOUT TRIAD STAGE
Triad Stage is the professional not-for-profit regional theater company for the Piedmont Triad with performances in downtown Greensboro at The Pyrle Theater and in downtown Winston-Salem at the Hanesbrands Theatre. All Triad Stage productions are created in the Triad using the best of local and national talent. Triad Stage gratefully acknowledges the support of its Season Sponsors: Blue Zoom, the North Carolina Arts Council, Arts Greensboro and The Arts Council of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County. Pump Boys and Dinettes is sponsored by NewBridge Bank with additional support from Senn Dunn Insurance, Piedmont Natural Gas and Dixon Hughes Goodman, LLP.
All Triad Stage productions feature the bold acting and breathtaking design that have been nationally recognized by The Wall Street Journal and by the American Theatre Wing, founder of the Tony Awards®, which named Triad Stage one of the top ten most promising theatres in the country as a recipient of the 2010 National Theatre Company Grant. Triad Stage has also earned accolades including “Best North Carolina Production of 2010” for The Glass Menagerie by Triangle Arts & Entertainment magazine; “One of the Best Regional Theatres in America”, New York’s Drama League; “Best Live Theater” (nine years running), Go Triad/News & Record and The Rhinoceros Times; and “Professional Theater of the Year” (2003, 2011), North Carolina Theatre Conference.