The story takes place inside a cafe called the Black Mesa Bar-B-Q and Filling Station, on a lonely crossroads in eastern Arizona.

[2] The family who runs it, their employees, and some customers are taken hostage by a criminal gang which just pulled off a bloody jail break in Oklahoma City.

[1] It was staged by Hopkins, had sets by Raymond Sovey, and starred Leslie Howard, with Peggy Conklin and Humphrey Bogart.

[4] It ran on Broadway from January thru June 1935, with four of the original cast[fn 1] then reprising their roles in the 1936 film version.

Leads Supporting Featured Voice only Off stage Act I The play opens inside the Black Mesa Bar-B-Q cafe, with two telegraph linemen eating lunch.

A car horn is heard; Jason Maples enters and orders Boze outside to fill a customer's gas tank.

Jason argues with Gramp about selling the business to Dana Trimble, so they can relocate to Los Angeles and open a garage.

After Jason leaves for his American Legion meeting, Boze romances Gabby, is rebuffed at first but is making progress when Alan Squier enters.

From the radio they hear that one of the gang's cars with a woman in it has knocked over a police station in a small Texas town, seizing arms and ammo.

Duke Mantee is affable with the philosophical musings of a slightly tipsy Squier, who suggests they both belong in the petrified forest along with the other obsolete detritus of civilization.

Squier then asks Duke to kill him just before the gang leaves, but admonishes the Chisholms and Gramp to not let Gabby know it wasn't in cold-blood.

[14] The play's background of Duke Mantee being busted out of jail by his gang members and fleeing to Arizona had its parallels with Dillinger's exploits in October 1933[15] and January 1934.

[16] Gilbert Miller announced in October 1934 that he would be producing Sherwood's play in association with Arthur Hopkins the director and Leslie Howard, who would also star.

[22] This forced the New York premiere to be scheduled for January 7, 1935, which meant The Petrified Forest would open the same day as The Old Maid.

[29] The local reviewer said "The Petrified Forest is a most unusual mingling of blistering satire, heartfelt reference to poetry and philosophy, and thrilling but plausible melodrama.

"[29] They praised the acting of Leslie Howard and Peggy Conklin and noted the audience's enthusiastic reaction to the play.

[31] Critic Rowland Field echoed the Boston reviewer, saying "The play is a curious mixture of philosophic thought and exciting action".

[30] Arthur Pollock said the play's title reflected its theme, to wit that a petrified forest "would be a better place than most as a happy hunting ground for pathetically large numbers of maladjusted people of today, particularly the intellectuals.

"[32] Pollock points this up further by identifying what it is about Gabby and Duke Mantee that appeals to Alan Squier, that they are both untamed individuals not yet overcome by a "petrifying civilization".

[1] He also liked the performance of Peggy Conklin as "a gas-station dryad", and said "Humphrey Bogart does the best work of his career as a motorized guerrilla".

[1] For Burns Mantle of the New York Daily News, Leslie Howard's acting made The Petrified Forest a "most exciting philosophical melodrama".

[4] He spent his entire review in homage to Howard's talent, and only in the final paragraph acknowledged "splendid support from Peggy Conklin as the waitress, Humphrey Bogart, of all people, as the gangster".

[33] The Petrified Forest returned to Broadway on November 1, 1943, for a limited engagement of one week at the New Amsterdam Roof Theatre.

[6] The revival was produced by Mary Elizabeth Sherwood, a 22-year-old from Whittier, California, who had started up the stock company at that theatre.

[9] Also in the cast was Slim Thompson, who performed the role of Pyles he had played both in the original stage production and the 1936 film.

[27] Warner Brothers released a film version in February 1936, just 13 months after the play's premiere, with a screenplay by Delmer Daves and Charles Kenyon.

Leslie Howard and Humphrey Bogart reprised their roles, with Bette Davis playing Gabby Maple.

[35] The play was adapted for television on a 90-minute live color anthology series called Producers' Showcase, airing on May 30, 1955.

[7] The opening scenes of Richard Yates' 1961 novel Revolutionary Road (and its 2008 film adaptation) focus on an incompetent community theater production of The Petrified Forest.