by Aozora Ito, sports writer
What better way to walk into an elegant, 10-year anniversary party, just to find the host who shot himself in the head and his wife missing? A guest with a back problem, another guest with whiplash, a neck injury and even an invited couple whose relationship screams alert— “Rumors,” a comedic play directed by Robert Zick, flamboyantly brings an end to the 2016-2017 school year by Fountain Valley Theatre, following “Hamlet” and ‘The Music Man.”
“‘Rumors’ stands in stark contrast to how our theatre class began the year with one of the world’s most profound tragedies, ‘Hamlet,’” Zick mentions in the Director’s Note. “And as a way to celebrate the ever constant cycle of life, we now get to laugh as we say congratulations and good bye to so many wonderful and talented young people as they graduate and move on to life after high school.”
Adouria MacGlashan (‘17), as Chris Gorman, and Jihad Chaudhry (‘17), as Ken Gorman, sets the opening scene as they panickingly scramble to take in the situation: a 10-year anniversary party of Charlie and Myra Brock turns out to be a bloody scene of attempted suicide and a missing wife. MacGlashan’s upbeat interactions with Chaudhry doesn’t miss a single tempo, and Chris Gorman’s entanglement with the telephone wire is spot on.
The next two guests walking in on the scene are Mary Kim (‘17) as Claire Ganz, and Mohammad Saman (‘17) as Lenny Ganz. Saman’s consistency with his neck injury and his variation in tone and amplification based on the scenes are fascinating. For Kim, her first dramatic appearance on stage with messy, red lipstick is iconic.
The guests all have unique, distinct personas which adds layers of depth to the comedic play. Other guests include Cookie and Ernie Cusack, played by Madison Arne (‘17) and Zion Aguilar (‘17), and Cassie and Glenn Cooper, played by Cathy Bui (‘17) and Michael Frankeny (‘17). While the Cusack’s have pleasant chemistry with an outgoing wife and a reserved husband, the Cooper’s, on the other hand, are having a not-so-great reaction.
The two freshmen cast members, Michael Bell (‘20) and Crystal Martin (‘20), played Officers Welch and Pudney. An iconic duo of a lively, annoyed male cop and a monotonous, calm female cop, Bell and Martin both brought their version of “justice” onto stage.
The costumes (Emma Dobrin (‘18), Charlenna Huynh (‘18), Britney Pham (‘18)) set the modern time period of the 1990s, and lighting (Dana Nguyen (‘18), Jihad Chaudry (‘17), Britney Pham (‘18)) accentuated the characters.
“It really wasn’t that hard. We worked with a lot of more experienced actors, so they had their head on their shoulders and knew what they had to do, so that was really nice,” said stage managers Alyssa Kammerer (‘18) and Anh Tran (‘18). Their favorite scene is when the guests turn up the music and break into dancing right as the police officers come in.
Overall, “Rumors” was an astounding performance and a great ending to FVHS Theatre for the 2016-2017 school year.
