Benicia Theatre Group to debut production of Neil Simon's "Rumors"

For those in need of a night of laughter and whimsy, the Benicia Theatre Group's latest spring production of Neil Simon's "Rumors" is the place to be.

"Rumors" will debut on Friday and will run until May 10. Performances are Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., with Sundays matinee shows at 2 p.m.

Neil Simon's "Rumors" is about four couples at a lavish anniversary party that leads to "frantic cover-ups" and rumors when the wife goes missing and the host is injured.

The cast includes Kyle Nash and Jennifer Rubio as Ken and Chris Gorman; Joshua Roberts and Virgie Poole as Lenny and Claire Ganz; Andrew Norris and Ginger Burnett as Ernie and Cookie Cusak; and Rob Smiley and Brittany Kamerschen as Glen and Cassie Cooper.

The ensemble also features supporting characters Officer Welch and Officer Pudney played by Linda Scaparotti and Chuck Schilling.

"This is the first play I've worked on in a long time where, apart from some scheduling conflicts, everyone memorized their lines in record time, showed up to rehearsals everytime," said director Clinton Vidal. "It's truly been a joy to work on, these folks are amazing."

However, "Rumors" is not just a comedic play; it is a two-act "farce."

"Farces are comedy, but not all comedies are farces," said Vidal. "Broadly speaking, farces aren't character driven. They aren't that deep. They do illustrate the human condition but they do so through absurdity and outrageous situations."

Vidal added that farces typically tend to focus more on plot complications such as misunderstandings and physical humor.

"It's about the fun of seeing the characters scramble to maintain their status quo," said Vidal.

His vision in particular revolved around sticking faithfully to the original source.

This meant that the timing of punchlines needed to be accurate, since the story is fast-paced.

Vidal said, "One of the things that can turn a farce deadly is if it's not paced correctly. You have to pace them fast and keep giving the audience information. The biggest adjustment is how punchlines are delivered."

In a natural play, usually characters will give their line, have some sort of reaction from other characters or themselves, and move onto the next thing.

In comparison, Vidal said that each moment needed its life.

"You would drop your punchline, hold the pose for a second and wait until the next thing happens on stage to pull you off it and focus your attention elsewhere," he said.

Vidal added, "When [farces] are done right, they're hilarious. It's like rollercoasters. You go on a rollercoaster because you enjoy the ride, you don't stop to think about the physics or how it works or anything of that. You just enjoy the ride."

Production and rehearsal took a total of six weeks; During the audition period, Vidal used it to assess couple casting, seeing which actor looked good together and get a sense of how each actor characterized their role.

Once rehearsals began, he focused on guiding the actors with their timing instead of focusing on technique notes.

"All these actors can act already, their characterizations were never an issue," he said.

He said that Neil Simon's works in general include sharp dialogue and "witty sharp-tongued" New Yorkers as characters.

"Which can be at odds with our California laid-back characteristics sometimes," he joked.

To purchase advanced tickets, go to: https://beniciatheatregroup.org/

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This story was originally published April 15, 2026 at 7:34 PM.