The Washington Post—July 25th, 2006
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/24/AR2006072401020.html
"Excuse me, miss," the larger one said, holding a Marlboro in his hand.
"What!" she said, jumping. "Are you talking to me?"
"My name's Justin McNeil. This is my friend John," he said. "We are founders of the DreamCity Theater Group. We're producing a play about the 70 bus."
"Bah!" Hawkins laughed, bowling over. "Ain't nothing like the 70."
The 70 runs between the waterfront in Southwest Washington and the plaza in downtown Silver Spring. No other route mixes so many types of people, she told them. Along the D.C. waterfront, the passengers are apt to wear fancy suits and have fancy federal jobs. They pay with SmarTrip passes. They rarely talk to one another.
The mix changes as the bus heads north, through Chinatown, Shaw and Petworth. Some people climb aboard in dirty clothes, carrying plastic bags. Now the regulars are more likely to talk to one another. Hustlers might be peddling bootleg copies of movies such as "Superman Returns." If the bus gets too crowded, people can get testy. Fights might even break out.
It can be unpredictable, this ride, as it makes its way along Seventh Street and then Georgia Avenue. Gazes out the window reveal neighborhoods, their politics and sparks of change within them.
McNeil and John Muller, both 22 and best friends since high school, adapted what they've witnessed on the bus for their play, "The 70." It premiers at 6:45 tonight at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library and is the first play produced by their theater company.
The inspiration came last summer when McNeil and Muller were working the late shift at a CVS pharmacy on Van Buren Street NW, near one of the route's stops. They took the bus to work, and they watched episodes of everyday life unfold. With 18,000 passengers daily, the 70 is rich with opportunities.
One day, missionaries tried to convert a homeless man, who in turn taught them a lesson about the hardships on the street.