The search for meaning in one’s life and how that quest can lead to satisfaction was laid out with sensitivity and a generous dose of humor in the Sisbarro Acting Studio’s recent production of “Get Your Kicks Off Route 66.”
A cast of students from the Marco Island Charter Middle School Theater Club was featured, along with youths from the Marco YMCA Afterschool Theater program. Gina Sisbarro, who directs the MICMS and YMCA programs, wrote the play especially for her students and also served as its director.
Set in 1955 in Prairie Pines, a sleepy little town in the Arizona desert, located off Route 66, the legendary 2,400-mile highway famous for linking the Midwest to California, the play centers on Honey Mae’s Diner, its staff and regular customers. Satisfaction with their laidback lives is the norm, except for a waitress named Madge, who imagines there must be more to life.
Her curiosity is quenched when a strange woman enters the diner and asks for a cup of coffee. What happens next turns the community upside down, with everything from a missing Hollywood starlet, Joan Bombshell, to vehicles being run off the road, including a school bus loaded with hot, thirsty children, to a detective snooping around the place.
Sisbarro’s love of classic films drove her creativity in devising the plot.
“I’m a real fan of the old movies, and there was a movie with Paul Newman and Geraldine Page (1962’s “Sweet Bird of Youth”) where she was running away from Hollywood,” she said. “That movie was an inspiration. And I always liked little diner pieces because you just never know what goes on in a little local diner. It’s always good for conversation and fun. I just love old Hollywood, so the idea came from that movie, the Hollywood starlet running away. So we did our own version of it.”
After a series of surprising twists and turns, and a measure of suspense and humorous occurrences, “Get Your Kicks on Route 66” concludes with a happy ending that sees everyone achieving the fulfillment they so desperately seek.
“The entire cast liked the idea of one set and how everyone remained on the stage once they arrived in the restaurant,” said Sisbarro. “Even though you don’t have a line, you always must be present, and the actors did a smashing job with staying engaged, listening to the conversations, eating their meals, or signaling for that second cup of coffee. It was interesting to watch our three waitresses, Violet, Chloe Wallet, who played Madge, and Adilyn Haza, who played Freida, work the diner. They had to keep busy the entire time. The ladies gave a realistic feel to being a waitress.”
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