Apocalypse the hot topic at local bar

“Early One Evening at the Rainbow Bar and Grill,” opening Friday at Theatre Macon, explores the reactions of a group of everyday people on the eve of the apocalypse.

A last-minute replacement in the theater’s season, the play is an “interesting and offbeat” comedy/drama written by Bruce Graham.

“I’ve had my eye on this for some time; I read it several years ago and liked it very, very much,” director Jim Crisp said. “It’s not well-known. Mercer (University theater) did it a couple years ago, so I anticipated waiting awhile longer to stage it, but the timing seemed perfect.”

The play is set in a neighborhood bar in a medium-sized city in the recent past and features characters who work there as well as bar regulars.

“There’s a long history of plays set in bars; Eugene O’Neill and Tennessee Williams set plays in bars. I think people gather in bars to relax and find company, a sense of community. Bars can be a microcosm of the world outside; they can be magical places,” Crisp said.

The characters include Shep, the bartender and an aspiring writer, Shirley, a chorus “gal” who works at the bar, Willie, a regular and survivalist, Roy, a gas station attendant, Virginia, a high school health and physical education teacher who is also a love interest for Shep, Bullard, a traveling salesman, and a mysterious stranger who it is eventually revealed might be God.

“The characters are interesting, real people whose response to the events going on around them outside the bar is often humorous and poignant,” Crisp said. “It’s a relatively small cast, a nice ensemble, and all the characters are so well-written that everyone has a moment to shine.”

The cause of the end of the world is never actually revealed, Crisp said, but the characters have interesting dialogue and discussion about topics that real people also talk about.

“People often write about and predict the end of the world, especially in these times, when people are wondering what might happen. Another fantasy people indulge in is, ‘What if I could talk to God? What if he was a real person? What would I say, and what would he say about the world we have created?’ This play examines a lot of those questions in the context of some very funny dialogue,” Crisp said.

“It’s been a lot of fun to work on and give the actors a chance to deal with ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. It’s a very interesting piece and a little thought-provoking, and I like that.”

This story was originally published October 13, 2016 at 9:00 PM with the headline "Apocalypse the hot topic at local bar."