Couples arrive at a party, looking forward to a night of good food and conversation. Instead, they find the male host wounded in bed, while the female host is nowhere in sight.
Douglaston Community Theatre kicks off its 75th season with the Neil Simon comedy Rumors on Friday, Nov. 8. The troupe will then offer the production six more times until Saturday, Nov. 23.
The 1988 comedy centers on an anniversary party with NYC Deputy Mayor Charley Brock. Married couple Ken and Chris Gorman arrive to find that Charley has shot himself in the ear. Then another couple arrives after getting in a car accident on the way there. The plot gets increasingly wackier as a political candidate shows up and Ken mistakenly shoots Charley’s gun before a few more mishaps, some arguments, several accusations, a mystery woman, and a faked identity.
Tickets are $22, but students and seniors can attend for $20. All seven presentations are at Zion Church Parish Hall at 243-20 Church St., and showtimes are Nov. 8 at 8 pm, Nov. 9 at 8 pm, Nov. 16 at 8 pm, Nov. 17 at 2 pm, Nov. 22 at 8 pm, and Nov. 23 at 2 pm and 8 pm.
Born in 1927 and raised in New York City, Simon was a particularly prolific playwright. He wrote several dozen plays and several dozen movie scripts and won three Tonys, four Oscars, four Primetime Emmys, and a Golden Globe.
JK Larkin, who is also a member of the Jamaica Estates-based Royal Star Theatre’s board, is the director of this version of Rumors. The cast includes Rebecca Drew, Johnny Egan, Virginia Harmon, Alison Kurtzman (another Royal Star board member), Kieran Larkin, Monica Maddock, Daniel Prior, Kelly Ronayne, Dany Stravino, and Chris Tyrkko. The Manhattan-based Dramatists Play Service is the producer.
Douglaston Community Theatre, which was founded in 1950, is the borough’s oldest amateur drama group.
Image: Courtesy of Michael Wolf