The fall play at LFA is an annual production that students, faculty and people around campus look forward to. This year’s production, “Rumors,” took the audience back to 1989, telling the story of a wealthy New York deputy mayor whose tenth wedding anniversary party turns into a night of lies, rumors and confusion.
The play is set at the deputy mayor’s mansion in upstate New York. When guests arrive for the private party, the deputy mayor’s wife, Myra, is nowhere to be found. The deputy mayor is upstairs in his bedroom with a gunshot wound to his ear and high on Valium. He cannot speak, and no one knows why. Rather than telling the truth, his close friends start spreading lies and rumors to protect him and themselves. As more guests arrive, the rumors grow until nobody truly knows what is going on.
According to Director of Theatre Michael Driscoll, “Rumors” is a fast-moving play that relies heavily on humor. Jokes come quickly, and the overall pace is fast and energetic.
“There are a lot of physical gags and physical humor; it’s very fast-paced and energetic,” Driscoll said.
That energy shaped nearly every part of the production, including the set. This year’s stage was a two-story set with a large balcony, multiple bedrooms, a bathroom and a bar. The design was meant to look like a wealthy home in Sneden’s Landing, a historic community about 45 minutes outside of Manhattan. Driscoll said the crew researched what old homes in that area looked like, as well as what design looked like in 1989. “The result was a set full of hot pinks and teals, along with art that fit the time period,” Driscoll said.
The cast also played a major role in shaping the show. “When you watch the play, it is absolutely a combination of their thoughts, their opinions, things they came up with,” Driscoll said.
During rehearsals, students gave input on blocking, which is where characters move on stage and how they move.
Moreover, because “Rumors” included a lot of physical comedy, the production worked with two people who helped with stage violence. They trained the actors on trips, falls, pushes, slamming into doors and running into things. Several characters also had accents, which added another layer of work for the cast.
Compared to last year’s “Clue,” which ran about an hour, “Rumors” was over two hours with a short intermission, making it more demanding for the cast. Going into the performance, some students felt more anxious than last year because of the longer duration and added pressure, but still felt confident.
Looking back on the production, one of the cast members, Coco Zheng ‘28, said the experience was challenging but rewarding.
“Mistakes in rehearsal are normal, and practice makes perfect,” Zheng said.
Driscoll said he expected the audience to be impressed by the set and the actors, but he thought the comedy would be what people remembered most. “I think they’re going to really love how hilarious it is,” Driscoll said.
With a two-story set, 1980s costumes and a script full of fast-paced jokes, “Rumors” gave the school a different kind of theater experience. It was a show built on quick jokes, physical comedy and a cast willing to trust the process, and by the final curtain, that process had clearly worked.