Arts Agenda - Pay at the pump

Theatrical Outfit stages Pump Boys & Dinettes

Pay at the pumpTheatrical Outfit stages Pump Boys & Dinettes Theatrical Outfit is by no means the first theater to take a ride down Highway 57 for the Pump Boys & Dinettes. It seems as though the country music revue has been staged continuously nationwide since its 1982 debut, when it earned a Tony Award nomination for Best Musical. Created and conceived by John Foley, Mark Hardwick, Debra Monk, Cass Morgan, John Schimmel and Jim Wann, the musical tribute to country living takes place at L.M. and Jim’s filling station and the adjacent Double Cupp Diner. The songs have titles like “Tips,” “Farmer Tan,” “Mamaw” and “Takin’ It Slow,” and the tone tends to fall somewhere between Greater Tuna and “Hee Haw.”

At the Theatrical Outfit’s production, directed by Kate Warner, the “pump boys” are both actors and musicians: David Silverman (bass), Ryan Richardson (guitar), Christopher Cannon (piano) and “tomboy” Cooper Seay (lead guitar), whom fans of Atlanta rock bands will remember from the Ellen James Society. The table-waiting Cupp sisters are Katie Kneeland and Rebekah Baty, one of Atlanta’s most dependable musical starlets.

Theatrical Outfit presents Pump Boys & Dinettes July 12-30 at the Rialto Center for the Performing Arts, 80 Forsyth St., with performances at 7:30 p.m. Thurs.-Sat. and 2:30 and 7 p.m. Sun. $12-$50. 404-577-5255.