SUNY JCC Uncommoners Announce Cast For 'Pump Boys and Dinettes'

SUNY JCC Uncommoners Announce Cast For 'Pump Boys and Dinettes'
Thursday, September 30, 2021

The SUNY Jamestown Community College Uncommoners has announced the cast for its fall 2021 musical production of Pump Boys and Dinettes. 

The musical, postponed from its original intended premiere in April 2020 due to the outbreak of COVID-19, will be presented at 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 12, 13, 19, and 20 and at 2 p.m. on Nov. 14 and 21. Performances will be held in the Weeks Teleconference Hall, located in the center of the Jamestown Campus’ Katherine Jackson Carnahan Center. 

The cast features Skyler Schapp, of Little Valley, as Jim; Derek DeVlieger, of Lakewood, as L.M.; JoAnn Liffner, of Jamestown, as Prudie; Teal Weatherley, of Jamestown, as Rhetta; Adam Hughes, of Jamestown, as Jackson; and Brandon Milanowski, of Salamanca, as Eddie. The production is directed by Adam Owens, with technical direction by Graham Riggle.

“The purpose of theater, according to Shakespeare, is to hold a mirror up to nature; to show the audience what life is like in a particular time and place — but that doesn't mean it needs to be boring,” Owens said. “The characters in Pump Boys and Dinettes are anything but boring. With music, dancing and lots of good laughs (and perhaps a few tears) our goal is to remember the good times and cherish those near and dear to us.” 

Conceived and written by John Foley Mark Hardwick Debra Monk Cass Morgan John Schimmel Jim Wann, Pump Boys and Dinettes spotlights L.M., Jackson, Jim, and Eddie, four men who work at a gas station, and two waitresses, sisters Prudie and Rhetta Cupp, who work at the Double Cupp Diner, a dinette located somewhere between Frog Level and Smyrna, N.C.

Pump Boys and Dinettes first appeared at the Colonnades Theatre in New York City on October 1, 1981 and was nominated for the 1982 Tony Award for Best Musical and also received nominations for the 1982 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Musical, Outstanding Lyrics, and Outstanding Music.

Tickets $6 for JCC students, $19 for senior citizens and students 18-and-under, $11 for Faculty Student Association faculty and staff, and $19 for the general public. They can be purchased by calling the box office at 716.338.1187 or at the door.