Mandi Prince / Roundup
Bang! The audience jumps and the play is under way or so that’s what the rumor is.
This mysterious and hilarious farce takes you back to those high school days when the difference between rumors and the truth were very hard to distinguish.
Neil Simon’s play “Rumors” opened at Pierce College on Friday, drawing about 50 attendees from senior citizens to teenagers.
The play takes place in Senden’s Landing, New York, in autumn of 1989. The whole set is inside the mayor of New York’s house.
A rich ambiance surrounds the set with white and charcoal couches, black and white checkered flooring, tall windows, a radio and beautiful plants.
Four couples get together to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Charlie and Myra and like Murphy’s law states, “anything that can go wrong will.”
First to arrive are Chris (Michele Selin) dressed in a black pant and black top with a shining belt and her husband Ken (Paul Nieman) Gorman wearing a black suit. Our base source for all of the rumors.
Second to arrive are Claire (Christine Cater) wearing a gold-and-black dress and Lenny (Evan Boelsen) Ganz also wearing a suit, the gossip couple of the town.
Third couple to enter are Cookie (Stephanie Bergman) wearing an orange and printed dress and Earnie (Amir Khalighi) Cusack in a suit, the oblivious and cheesy couple.
Last to arrive are Cassie (Jessica Wolford) wearing a red velvet skin-tight dress and Glenn (Wasim Nomani) Cooper in a suit, the neurotic couple.
While all these couples are together, there is never a time when any of them aren’t twisting a truth, starting a lie, or another rumor.
A straight face was a hard one to keep after each lie been created.
Basically Charlie, the mayor of New York has allegedly shot himself in an attempted suicide because his wife is having an affair.
To keep his personal life under wraps, his fiends decide to change what has happened to him a million times, and in the process leaving people laughing instead of pondering.
“This is to get the audience to laugh, said Michael Sande theater arts manager.
“People are going to leave here and say that was really funny.”
And it’s true, people were laughing the whole time.
“The performances were great, it was a fun story and quite a farce,” said Kathleen Burke-Kelly, president of Pierce College.
This play definitely wouldn’t have been what it was with out the actors in this play.
They worked hard and had rehearsals three times a week for a little under two months according to Jessica Wolford.
Comedy has its own sets of challenges according to Paul Neiman the director of Plant Facilities at Pierce. “I’ve done plays but not a farce,” he said.
This proved to be challenging for a few too who aren’t used to farce acting.
To the crowds astonishment, the play was a complete success. The cast had the audience laughing throughout the entire play.
“I have never been in a farce, I’m not used to comedy, it s different experience,” Christine Cater said.
Just like Nieman.
“I always look for a challenge” Neiman said.
