Photo Flash: First Look at Neil Simon's RUMORS at Farmington Players Barn

Rumor has it the Farmington Players next production will shake you up - with laughter.

The Players are wrapping up the season with the Neil Simon classic Rumors, a zany fast-paced farce loaded with slamming doors, mistaken identities and physical humor. The show opens April 25th and runs through May 17th at the Farmington Players Barn in Farmington Hills. Tickets are on sale now at www.farmingtonplayers.org or at the box office: 248-553-2955.

The show is set in 1988 with no cell phones, no Facebook and no shortage of word of mouth functioning as the main mechanism to spread rumors.

The fun begins with the Deputy Mayor of New York shooting himself in the ear on the day he's hosting a party for his wedding anniversary. When upper class couples arrive for the celebration they realize the politician and his wife are missing and the mad rush is on to conceal the truth from the media and police.

Director Cynthia Tupper of Farmington Hills feels fortunate to work with some of the funniest actors and actresses at "The Barn." "The pleasure of directing such an exceptional cast is that they take the framework of your direction and run with it. They bring so much of their own to the table to make their characters unique," says Tupper.

Tupper says her cardinal rule for directing a farce is to make it "fast loud and funny." She's confident her cast will put audiences "in stitches" as they portray "wealthy well-educated couples acting like lunatics" with all their quirks, flaws and charm.

The first two to arrive are lawyers Ken and Chris Gorman played by Jim Moll of Farmington Hills and Erin Osgood of Brighton. They fear the Mayor is the victim of a failed suicide attempt. So they carefully create a cover story hoping to avoid a scandal.

They are joined by Claire and Lenny Ganz (Sue Rogers of West Bloomfield & Frank Markus of Royal Oak) whom Tupper describes as "The Bickersons"; The "nice" and "successful" couple, Cookie and Ernie Cusak (Mary Ann Tweedie of Novi and Nick Szczerba of Brownstown); and the "political couple" Cassie and Glenn Cooper (Julia Spina-Kilar of West Bloomfield and Ross Grossman of Farmington Hills).

The fifth couple - a pair of police partners Welch and Pudney (Erik Carlson of Southfield and Kristi Schwartz of Canton Twp.) have an interesting relationship. They aren't married, but they are called on to investigate the bizarre story.

The hilarity kicks into high gear as the guests try to make sense of the circumstances using bits of rumors, including some about extramarital affairs the mayor and his wife may or may not be having. One rumor laced with lies follows another, and tiny misconceptions lead to some amazing comedy.

Photo Credit: Kurt Mathiak

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