Published: October 30, 2009 04:01 pm      

Santa Fe to put on Neil Simon’s ‘Rumors’

EDMOND — Everybody is talking about it, and it’s true: One of Neil Simon’s most popular award-winning comedies, “Rumors,” is coming to Santa Fe High School Nov. 12-13.

A topsy-turvy farce that pokes fun look-at the not-so-transparent lives of the elite, “Rumors” takes place in the posh suburban townhouse of New York’s deputy mayor, Charley Brock, and his wife, Myra. Several affluent couples gather for a dinner party celebrating their host’s 10th anniversary. When they arrive, there are no servants, the hostess is missing, and Charley, never appearing to greet his guests, has shot himself through the earlobe.

Charley’s lawyer does his best to conceal his client’s accident, but the cover-up gets progressively more strained as the other guests arrive, as nobody remembers who said what about whom. The rumors grow increasingly ridiculous as each couple tries to keep the truth from the others, the police and the media.

In the comic confusion that follows, more gunshots are heard, gossip flys about aristocratic trysts, and the local police pay a visit. Charley’s friend, Lenny, offers a hilarious explanation just before curtain call, but knowing Simon’s flair for nonsensical plot lines, will the audience still be confused?

Featured in Santa Fe’s production are Mike Rollow as the short-tempered accountant Lenny Ganz; Holly Calvert as Claire, Lenny’s acid-tongued wife; Katie Martin as Chris Gorman, a tense publishing lawyer who desperately needs a cigarette, and Michael Essington as her husband Ken, Charley’s lawyer who is determined to protect him at all costs.

Zach Hurst plays Ernie Cusack, a laid-back psychologist, with Rachael Owens as his appropriately-named wife, Cookie, the scatterbrained chef. Jaden Stanley portrays the pompous state senatorial candidate Glen Cooper, with Emily Clark as his wife Cassie, a high-maintenance woman obsessed with an ancient crystal.

Nick Bouseman and Sara Patterson round out the cast as Officers Welch and Pudney.

Directed by Robin Robinson, “Rumors” will be performed at 7 p.m. Nov. 12-13 in the Santa Fe auditorium. Tickets are $6 for students and senior citizens and $8 for adults. For more information, call the ticket information line at 330-3300.