Spread of "Rumors" across Modesto's Gallo Center

"Rumors" will swirl at the Gallo Center for the Arts next week, spread not so much on the down-low by the theater’s repertory company.

Described by its playwright as an "elegant farce" according to notes from the company, Neil Simon's "Rumors" will be staged at the downtown Modesto venue April 13-15.

The play brings together four affluent couples who find themselves embroiled in a scandalous situation. The characters arrive for an anniversary party for New York's deputy mayor and his wife, but find the mayor shot in bed and his wife missing.

They quickly find themselves in absurd and exaggerated circumstances.

The action plays out in the posh home of the deputy mayor of New York, Charlie Brock, who with wife Myra has invited friends over for dinner. But when the first guests arrive, they find Charlie has attempted suicide. As other guests arrive, Charlie’s lawyer Ken Gorman and his wife Chris try to keep what's happened upstairs a secret. But like all farces, the situation unravels with comical results.

According to director Raquel Ruelas, "the disorder itself has precision in movement, shape and timing. Each actor was a cog in the clockwork of comedy for this show."

Indeed, the action is manic in the play that debuted on Broadway in 1988 and garnered a best actress Tony Award for Christine Baranski.

"Although the show takes place in this beautiful modern home and the guests are dressed in gowns and tuxes, it cannot mask the mayhem that is present or rid the characters of their idiosyncrasies that heighten and intensify every situation," Ruelas says in her notes on the play.

The Gallo Rep production is produced by Jim Johnson. The cast includes Ryan Dziadosz as Ken Gorman, Kimberly Ogden as Chris Gorman with Charlene West, Daniel M. Ogden, Dahlia Martinez, Alex Loya, Michael Houston and Megan Cardenas rounding out the guest list. Lara Dirks and Trey Augustus play a pair of police officers.

Gallo Repertory Theatre stages Neil Simon's "Rumors" at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, April 13-14 and 2 p.m. Sunday, April 15 in the Foster Family Theatre at the Gallo Center, 1000 I St., Modesto. Tickets are $12-$20. For more, see www.galloarts.org.

Elsewhere around the Scene: "Food 4 Thought"

A program on food issues will be held April 14 at the State Theatre. Food 4 Thought brings two authors on food and diet to the downtown venue to discuss food choices, the environment and health.

Will Tuttle, author of "The World Peace Diet," and Rubin Guzman, author of "Evolving Health," will discuss food issues from different angles: Tuttle explores food choices and cultural food history; Guzman examines the health issues from food choices.

The program is presented by So Easy — So Good, a group for vegans and vegetarians in Modesto, and sponsored by Dr. Calvin Lee and Dr. Tammy Wu of Modesto's Surgical Artistry and Peer Recovery Project's John Black.

The program is at 7 p.m. Saturday, April 14, at the State Theatre, 1307 J St., Modesto. Admission is free. For more, contact Kathryn Haynes, president and founder of So Easy-So Good, at 209-250-9961, or see www.thestate.org.

This story was originally published April 4, 2018 at 2:03 PM with the headline "Spread of "Rumors" across Modesto's Gallo Center."