Rumors Press Release

PRESS RELEASE

Swamp Meadow Community Theatre Presents
RUMORS
A Comedy By Neil Simon
Directed by Bob Hollis and Jayne Lear
April 28- May 7, 2016

“This play has no socially redeeming qualities, but you will laugh the whole way through!”

That’s how Neil Simon described his show, RUMORS, when it first hit the stage in 1988. Director Bob Hollis was attracted to Simon’s story years ago, lured by the lunacy and lightning-fast repartee of the script. He knew that it would be a challenge to get the comedic timing just right in a show like this, but he felt that Swamp Meadow Community Theatre could pull it off.

The show takes a routine 10th anniversary party in Myra and Charley’s high-end neighborhood, and adds quirky friends, missing persons, indistinct clues, gunshots, and botched cover-ups. Rumors fly as the partygoers get deeper and deeper into chaos- and oh, is that the police at the door?

When the show finally received the green light, Bob knew that beyond finding a top-notch cast, he would also need the best behind-the-scenes support crew he could find.

Enter Co-Director Jayne Lear, who has been working alongside him to make sure all the nuanced language shines and that the cast receives notes on all aspects of their performances at each rehearsal.

Another key player in this production is 17-year-old Stage Manager Isabella Giorgianni. If you think a teenager isn’t capable of keeping all the moving parts of a production running smoothly, then you haven’t met Izzi!

Izzi first came to SMCT at age 5, when she was cast in her very first show, Peter Pan. She honed her acting skills for many years in SMCT’s productions, and became very familiar with the way things operated there.

Homeschooled through her early years, she later began attending The Prout School as a high school student. It was in Prout’s theatre department that she became attuned to a more traditional theatrical management style, and knew that she wanted to bring what she learned back to SMCT as a Stage Manager.

“Teaching the proper way to run theatrical shows became my mission. I really felt that children, especially in the context of our summer shows, deserved to have their first theatre experiences reflect how professional theatres worked.”

She implemented those managerial skills in the Summer 2015 production of Tom Sawyer. The difference was noticeable and positive, and so became the new norm for SMCT. It’s safe to say that she has left her mark! Izzi’s love for stage management isn’t just a “stage” she’s going through – she intends to study it full-time in college this fall.

The beauty of good stage management, of course, is invisible- when you see a show like RUMORS unfold, and you are immersed in the story, forgetting you are in a theatre and laughing all the way through, then you’ll know that Izzi, Bob, Jayne and the whole cast and crew have done their job!

RUMORS show dates are:
Friday, April 28th at 7:00pm
Saturday, April 29th, at 7:00pm
Sunday, April 30th, at 2:00pm
Friday, May 5th, at 7:00pm
Saturday, May 6th, at 7:00 m
Sunday, May 7th, at 2:00pm

Location: Captain Isaac Paine Auditorium, 160 Foster Center Road, Foster, RI 02825

Tickets may be ordered online at www.swampmeadow.org or by calling Brown Paper Tickets at 1-800-838-3006. Tickets may also be purchased at the door within one hour of the show.

SMCT’s Web Page, including cast list and photos, is here: http://www.swampmeadow.org/productions/rumors

Note: This show contains strong language, and so parental discretion is advised.

Any questions about the production may be directed to:
Liz Goulet Dubois
creative@swampmeadow.org