Route 66 comes to Route 66

Of all my plays, It Happened on Route 66 has the strongest sense of place. One of my goals in writing this 1950's comedy was to capture the ambience of the hundreds of small towns along the Mother Road, and of one very small town in particular--the unforgettable Winona, Arizona, where the play is set.

I wanted theatergoers to feel the dust in the air of that high desert town. I wanted them to hear the roar of the cars rushing just outside the diner. But most of all, I wanted to capture the hope that Route 66 held for so many people as they headed west toward what they believed was the Promised Land.

Which is why, once the play was published, I was excited to see where it would be produced. Would it be embraced by the bustling cities and those quaint small towns along its length? Would it find a home in theaters much further away? Would it get produced internationally at all?

I was pleasantly surprised. The play was a huge hit from day one, garnering 57 productions its first full year of publication. Nine of those productions were in Canada, one was in Australia, and one was in New Zealand. The rest of the productions were scattered all over the United States, from Vermont to California and Florida to Oregon (no Maine or Washington yet). But none of those productions were in a city or town along the Mother Road itself.

Until now. Ghost Light Youth Theatre, a branch of River Cities Community Theatre in Bullhead City, AZ, is performing the show tonight and tomorrow.

I've never been to Bullhead City--it's four hours away from my home in suburban Phoenix--but it always pops up on our statewide weather forecasts and I've always been fascinated by the name.

Turns out its history is just as fascinating.

The town of 43,000 is located on the Colorado River, directly across from the famous gambling town of Laughlin, Nevada. It was first known as Hardyville, being founded in 1864 as a steamboat landing for the gold, silver, and copper mines in the area.

After silver prices declined in the 1890's, it became a bona fide ghost town, only to be resurrected with its current name in 1942 when it became the base for construction of Davis Dam. Ironically, the highway predated the rebirth of the town as the Arizona section of Route 66 was completed in 1926. 

Yes, you can still drive (or get down on your hands and knees and kiss, if that's your thing) the original asphalt of Route 66 through Bullhead City. In fact, the best-preserved section of the entire highway is the 73-mile long section from Kingman to Seligman just east of Bullhead City.

And where did that crazy name come from? From Bullshead Rock, a prominent rock formation that was almost entirely submerged by the lake formed by the dam (take that, rock!).

Unfortunately, I can't find any history on the theater company itself, but judging from its Facebook account, it appears to be a healthy, vibrant group that has already been around for quite a few years. 

My ultimate dream for this play, of course, would be to have it performed in Winona. But seeing as Winona is an unincorporated village without a school let alone a theater company, that seems highly unlikely.

So what do you say, Flagstaff? You're the nearest city to the setting of the play. How would you like to be the next Route 66 town to produce it?