New York playwright Neil Simon wrote Rumors as a farce in the late 1980s and has since seen it performed everywhere from community theatres to Broadway.

Victoria’s Canadian College for the Performing Arts is the latest company to tackle the legendary writer’s two-act play. Members of the college’s Company C – third-year students – will stage the Clue-style mystery, which centres around an affluent dinner party, during a three-show run at the Metro Theatre, Oct. 10-12.

“The mystery is where’s the wife and who shot the host and it’s an anniversary party,” said CCPA instructor and the play’s director, Dan Costain. “You’re not sure what’s happening until the last summation. It’s a cross between a farce and a whodunit.”

Not only do the students play all the parts, they’ve taken on most aspects of a full stage production, from public relations to sound and lighting.

Company C student Syd Sengotta, who plays whiplash-afflicted accountant Lenny Ganz as well as handling some lighting duties, said he’s enjoyed diving into a production such as Rumors.

“For me I haven’t done that much comedy I do a lot more serious or musical theatre,” he said. “This is really a stretch to try to be a straight character while delivering the lines with the humour that is intended. If I was to do humour, I would go more Kramer (the Seinfeld character), but because this is that style I have to bring it down with understanding.”

Rumors follows four couples who arrive at another couples home for a dinner engagement. The party takes a twist as the host, not seen on stage, shoots himself in the ear and his wife is nowhere to be seen. As each of the guests arrive they find themselves entangled in a game of cover-up, which culminates in the arrival of police following up sounds of gunfire.

“The general synopsis of the play is it’s a farce; trying to figure out what the rumour is, and who’s having an affair with whom and whatnot,” added Costain, who teaches improv. “These are New York people, they’re professionals, it’s the high-class Hamptons, all of this rolled together.”

Kevin Taylor – p.r. man for this project – plays Ernie Cusack, the hyper-critical party guest. He said each character brings to the play their own idiosyncrasies.

“(My character’s) sort of got this pompous holier-than-thou (attitude) where everyone else is acting crazy, but he thinks he’s so smart,” he said. “He thinks he can figure out what’s wrong and he knows that’s something’s wrong, but he never really does figure it out. Much like the other characters, he’s not particularly deep. They’re all sort of one-dimensional and self-serving, protecting themselves at all costs from this issue that has arisen.”

Simon has long been one of Broadway’s most influential playwrights, having won numerous Tony Awards, the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1991 and a Golden Globe for best screenplay in 1978. He’s mostly known for his comedies, but also wrote and produced several dramatic plays.

Company C student and sound technician Silvia Zilker plays Cookie Cusack, Ernie’s wife and the host of a TV cooking show. She calls her character “a little bit crazy.”

“And she has back spasms and she kind of says whatever she thinks and lets it all come out,” Zilker said. “(But) she’s very kind and she cooks for everyone that night.”

By the end of the night, Costain said, the production will hopefully have the audience thinking and laughing simultaneously.

“It has all kinds of little sub-plots and twists that could only come out of Neil Simon’s brain,” he said. “It’s a very well-written play.”

Showtimes for *Rumors* at The Metro Theatre, 1411 Quadra St., are Oct. 10 at 7:30 p.m., Oct. 11 at 2 and 7:30 p.m. and Oct. 12 at 2 p.m. Tickets are available at the McPherson box office or by phone at 1-888-717-6121.

patrickb@vicnews.com