At the tail end of the 2023 fall semester, the Oxford High School Theatre chose to perform the play “Rumors’’ by Neil Simon. The plot of the play revolves around an anniversary party gone wrong, as guests scramble to put a story together to explain the suspicious events of the night in order to avoid trouble and scandal. The play took place in the black box theatre on Dec. 14, 15, and 16, but the ten-person cast rehearsed from October until the first show.
Ann Hunter Bigham, a junior at OHS, played the role of Chris Gorman, wife of Ken Gorman. She spoke about the differences between rehearsing versus performing in front of a full audience.
“In rehearsal, there was no one to laugh at the show so it always kind of felt flat,” Bigham said. “However, during actual performance time, the energy was through the roof because of the laughter we were receiving from the audience.”
The story of “Rumors” revolves around a group of friends trying to keep the secret of a disappeared wife, Myra Brock, and cover up the injury of husband, Charlie Brock, by a bullet wound during the couples ten year anniversary party. The play was set in New York circa 1989. While this may initially appear to be another Sherlock Holmes story, the play is actually rather comical. The audience watches as characters scramble across the set in an attempt to hide the disaster from guests who continue to arrive.
“My favorite part about the play is the script itself,” Rob Norman, who played Ken Gorman, said. “I think that the play is very well written and funny. It made it very enjoyable to try and act out the script to the best of our ability.”
Clayton Windham, senior at OHS, played Ernie Cusack, a psychologist, during his debut in OHS Theatre. He recalled the obstacles and challenges that the cast and crew had to work to overcome in order to perform “Rumors” without fault.
“My favorite experience was when it all came together and the show would flow seamlessly,” Windham said. “It was hard to make that happen since we could only work on parts of the show at a time, and I personally struggled to project my voice in such a big room.”
The cast also grew very close during rehearsals, late nights, shows, and dinners. The cast only consisted of a mere 10 students: Ann Hunter Bigham, Rob Nor man, Taylor Bradley, Kanalu Avery, Clayton Windham, Avery Sams, Zaiden Aquino, Julia Bryan, Sam Hueur, and Renad Radwan. The play was directed by OHS teacher John Davenport, and also had a crew of students who worked hard together behind the scenes. While the cast was relatively small, they were able to put on an entertaining show that lasted roughly one and a half hours, and was sold out two nights in a row.
“My favorite experience was solidifying relationships with my fellow cast and crew,” Norman said. “Since it was such a small cast it was easy to make individual relationships with people.”
This was the last show of the 2023 fall semester, but for some students it was their first time ever stepping on stage.
“Honestly, it was intimidating,” Windham said.“I had never been a part of theater before, but I wanted to try acting and be in a play with my friends. My only regret is not trying it sooner.”
“Despite the play’s challenges, I enjoyed the experience,” Bigham said. “I loved getting to step outside of my comfort zone and little bit of comedy. And, of course, I also loved all of the people who were involved.”
