Rumors (2005)

Charlie and Myra have been married happily ever after for ten years now – what a reason to celebrate! So they invite their eight best friends (four couples of New York’s high society) to their fancy villa, engage their cook Mai Li to prepare the canapés and a delicious dinner and order tons of expensive champagne. At least that is what their friends think.

But when Chris and Ken Gorman arrive at the party, they only find Charlie’s body covered with blood, a gun and a suicide note. No Myra, no Mai Li and – worst of all – no food! Thank God Charlie is still alive but barely conscious and therefore unable to explain the situation. While lawyer Ken remains calm (relatively), his wife Chris is coming apart at the seams, especially as the other guests are arriving fast. They agree not to tell the others what happened since Charlie is the Deputy Mayor of New York and has to be protected from the police, nosy journalists and nasty rumors at all costs.

However, it is hard to keep a secret from Claire and Lenny – the next ones to arrive on the scene – when there’s no food, no host, no hostess and various other problems. But even Claire and Lenny cannot find a solution when they are confronted with the situation – they can only speculate. Was it suicide or attempted murder? Did Charlie have an affair or was it Myra? And where are all the servants?

Before they can come to a conclusion, Cookie and Ernie arrive, followed by Glenn and Cassie a little while later. And, of course, after some more accidents and a funny game of hide-and-seek the police aren't far away either...

The Poor Theatre Company recieved wonderful reviews when they presented Rumors for three nights starting on August 4th in 2005.

Cast (click on the names to see profiles):
Tiffany Tilley as Chris
Jeremy Rampton as Ken
Louisa Longford as Claire
Denis Grenier as Lenny
Jennifer Ching as Cookie
Bradley Toews as Ernie
Natashia Durand as Cassie
Andrei Mardli as Glen
Kate Wiens as Officer Welch
Devan Pohl as Officer Pudney

Crew (click on the names to see profiles):
Reid Sloan, Director
Krista Wiebe, Stage Manager
Denise Enns, Props and Backstage
Margaret Dudgeon, Costumes
Kaeleigh Shroeder, Poster Design
Camille Grenier, Lights

A big thank you to the following people for helping build the set:
Bob Meakin, Brian Rampton, Benjamin Champman, Devin Rachul, Paul Braun, Nate Salmonson, Gerald Pauls