Davidson Community Players Present RUMORS, Now thru 8/5

Davidson Community Players stages Neil Simon's hilarious farce, Rumors, beginning tonight, July 26 and continuing through August 5. Simon, America's best known multi-award winning playwright, excels in presenting the frustrations of life with delicious humor and Rumors is no exception.

The play brings together eight extremely colorful dinner guests for the tenth wedding anniversary of the Deputy Mayor of New York and his wife. He has just shot himself through the earlobe and his wife is nowhere in sight. Each guest is desperately trying to hush the facts surrounding the mysterious shooting of their host. Couples quickly begin to show their true colors, as they scramble for increasingly ridiculous explanations as they peel down to their neurotic, insecure selves in an attempt to protect their social standing.

The cast includes long time Players actors, Jim Esposito, Cat Rutledge, Phil Robertson and DCP Executive Director, Matthew Merrell. Merrell is a well-known veteran of the Davidson community stage and most recently in the 2010 DCP production of Noises Off. "It's such a pleasure to be back on stage with the company," says Merrell of his role. "I'm especially glad to have the opportunity to be part of this extremely talented cast."

The production will be directed by Davidson College Assistant Professor of Theater Mark Sutch, who previously directed critically acclaimed productions of Rounding Third and How I Learned to Drive for The Players. Sutch has directed numerous productions at Davidson College, including Romeo and Juliet, Leading Ladies and Hamlet.

Neil Simon is widely regarded as America's leading writer of comedy. His plays include The Odd Couple, Barefoot in the Park, Brighton Beach Memoirs and the Tony Award winning Biloxi Blues. Simon has a gift for taking common place comments, objects, events and relationships and spinning them into side splitting humor. This is the first local production of Rumors in recent years and audiences won't stop laughing.

Rumors will be presented at 8:00 pm in the Duke Family Performance Hall at Davidson College tonight, July 26 – Saturday, July 28 and Thursday August 2 – Saturday August 4. Matinee performances will be offered on Sunday, July 29 and Sunday, August 5 at 2:00 pm. Tickets ($12-24) for adults, students and seniors can be reserved by calling at 704-892-7953 or online at www.DavidsonCommunityPlayers.org. Limited reserved seating is also available.

Connecting our Community To Theatre, To Each Other, To Ourselves - DCP is now in its 47th season and is the 2011 winner of the North Carolina Theatre Conference "Community Theatre of the Year" award.

Pictured: Debra Allebach and Philip Robertson. Photo by Ginny Darcey.