Bus Stop director returns to her roots

Linda Murphy Sutherland is happy to tell the CCRI students she is directing in William Inge’s Bus Stop, “You can achieve anything you want, but you need the degree.”

Sutherland should know. This CCRI graduate (class of ’92) is not only a faculty member of Boston University’s Metropolitan College of Arts, she is also associate director of education at the Huntington Theatre Company in Boston, where she serves as a master teacher, director and education specialist.

When Sutherland began at CCRI 15 years ago, she knew more about theater than any class could teach her. For more than 20 years, this triple-threat—actor, singer and dancer—has been performing in theatrical productions. She had even served as a URI guest artist. But when it came to the classroom, Sutherland had her own stage fright. “I was terrified to go back to school,” she says.

After receiving credits for her life experience, Sutherland quickly earned her A.F.A. from CCRI, and then kept learning, earning a B.F.A. in directing from the University of Rhode Island and an M.A. in theater education from Emerson. Now a force in the Boston theater scene, Sutherland is juggling a new kind of triple threat—as an actor, an arts administrator and an arts educator.

Serving as a guest director for CCRI students, then, is like coming home for Sutherland. “To be able to work with students that are so dedicated is as professional of an experience as I’ve ever had,” says Sutherland. “I have the proof right on stage when I come to work every day.”

A Pulitzer-Prize winner, Inge wrote this romantic comedy fifty years ago, when women’s bodies were constrained both by girdles and the sexual mores of the time. So, the charged conversations that passed between characters in Bus Stop were seen as very shocking half a century ago. “Today, you will discover a social commentary that foreshadows a changing world,” said Sutherland. To make her actors better understand the culture behind the dialogue, she asked her students to see such classic films as Elmer Gantry and Splendor in the Grass (another Inge work). She also had them watch the 2004 movie Kinsey, which directly addresses the repressive attitude toward human sexuality.

The Bus Stop cast included CCRI students Genevieve Jussaume (Grace) and Bill Reynolds (Virgil) both from Warwick, Shannon Biles (Elma) from Cranston, John Walker (Will) from Cranston, Jared Benson (Carl) from Warren, Timothy DeLisle (Dr. Lyman) from Woonsocket, Daniel Dempsey (Bo) from North Providence and Amy Amerantes (Cherie) from Providence.

Linda’s husband Luke Sutherland of CCRI’s scene shop, handled set design and technical direction for Bus Stop. Mick Jones oversaw light and sound design, while Jeffrey Butterworth designed costumes for the production.