Friday, March 6, 2009

Bus to Bamako


On February 18th, Pierre-Marc Diennet premiered his in-development play “Bus to Bamako,” at Opera House Arts. The play, starring Pierre-March Diennet and Sean-Michael Bowles, was the story of one man’s experience working as a photojournalist in developing countries.

The play begins in a hotel bar in Bamako, the capital city of Mali, where Peter (Pierre-Marc Diennet), a young American, is talking about his experiences. He is a photojournalist on assignment in Mali and is clearly troubled by the things he has seen and in fact some of the things he himself has done during his travels. Peter tells different stories to Baba (Sean-Michael Bowles) a young university student, and culminates with one story in particular, during a bus ride to Bamako, where his own actions have left him disillusioned and cynical.

“Bus to Bamako” was a powerful play reading which was beautifully acted and looked at very important and challenging issue. It will be extremely interesting to see future productions of the play and see the direction and movement of the story. At Opera House Arts, the production was concluded with an audience reaction discussion. Director and actor Pierre-Marc Diennet was very interested in what the audience had to say and plans on incorporating many of the suggestions into future productions.


For more on play readings and other live performances at the opera house check our web-site at http://www.operahousearts.org/livetheater.php

-Emma