The next mainstage performance presented by the University
Theatre at Saint Louis University is out-and-out entertainment from
one of America’s premier comic playwrights, Neil Simon.

“Rumors” is a comedy of situation, complete with all the
farcical elements that make for a recreational night at the
theater: doors slam and hilarity ensues as a group of four couples
try to sort out the mess that ruined their dinner party.

Confusion is general throughout the play–but quite unlike the
wide-eyed expressions that might have followed from the requisite
cerebral participation in the allegorical fall season-opener “Far
Away,” peals of laughter are all that “Rumors” will ask of its
audience.

“It’s just silliness,” director Gary Barker said of the show’s
straightforward nature. “It provides a nice balance, and we can
showcase the different things theatre can be and accomplish.”

The action takes place at the home of a New York City deputy
mayor, set in affluence and bedecked in formalwear. But when the
mayor and his wife invite four other couples into their home with
the intention of celebrating their anniversary, the party never
quite begins.

As the couples arrive one by one, they find that the host and
hostess are AWOL: the mayor has somehow managed to shoot himself in
the head, suffering only a minor flesh wound to match Evander
Holyfield’s, and the mayor’s wife is nowhere to be found.

In the wake of these events, the mayor’s lawyer orchestrates a
cover-up that propagates itself as a source of confusion as the
guests take it upon themselves to solve the mystery.

Keeping secrets from each other in order to protect their host,
the guests quickly forget who has told what to whom, and the
lawyer’s cover-up becomes increasingly difficult to maintain as the
cops arrive.

The play has the energy and style of a sitcom–it’s a highbrow
episode of “Seinfeld,” a show more unapologetically comical than
any the University Theatre has done before.

Similarly, the stage in Xavier Hall will be graced with a few
faces that audiences haven’t seen before, as three of the ten cast
members will make their University Theatre debut with “Rumors.”

“‘Rumors’ is a good training show,” Barker said. “We could cast
new people and introduce actors to the mainstage.”

The bulk of the play’s action is handled by the four
dinner-guest couples, and six of these eight performers are taking
on their first lead role at SLU.

The cast also includes two thespians who are no strangers to
drama: Jason Garrison and Katy Vogt, who played the Dr. and Mrs.
Gibbs in the University Theatre’s spring performance, “Our
Town.”

Garrison also played the title role in “Picasso at the Lapin
Agile” in the fall of 2003, and Vogt most recently directed the
fall studio performance of Steve Martin’s “WASP.”

Simon penned “Rumors” after the great critical success of his
autobiographical trilogy (“Brighton Beach Memoirs” in 1983, “Biloxi
Blues” in 1985 and “Broadway Bound” in 1986), an insightful and
emotional portrait of an individual and his role in the family and
the world around him.

With “Rumors” he returned to pure comedy, in the same vein as
“The Odd Couple,” which he wrote for Broadway in 1966.

Simon has garnered more Academy Award and Tony nominations than
any other writer, and is the only playwright to have four shows
running on Broadway simultaneously. He was awarded a Pulitzer Prize
for “Lost in Yonkers” in 1991.

“Rumors” opens Friday, Nov. 12 with a show at 8 p.m., continuing
Saturday, Nov. 13 at 8 p.m., and Sunday, Nov. 14 at 2 p.m. The
matinee will be presented with a sign-language interpreter.

Performances also take place next weekend on Friday and
Saturday, Nov. 19 and 20, at 8 p.m. Tickets can be purchased
through the Box Office in Xavier Hall (977-3327).