HCPAC PRESENTS

We kick off the 2026 season at Henderson County Performing Arts Center with Neil Simon’s Rumors, a classic high-energy farce that opens at a stylish tenth anniversary party for New York’s Deputy Mayor, Charlie Brock, set in an upscale Manhattan townhouse.

What should be an elegant evening among friends takes a shocking turn when the first guests arrive to find Charlie bleeding from a gunshot wound and his wife mysteriously missing. With no clear explanation and panic setting in, the guests make a desperate decision to protect their reputations at all costs.

As additional couples arrive throughout the evening, the situation spirals further out of control. In an attempt to avoid scandal, the characters invent increasingly elaborate lies, misunderstand simple truths, and misidentify nearly everyone in the room. Each new explanation only creates more confusion, turning a simple problem into complete chaos. Slamming doors, frantic pacing, and Neil Simon’s sharp, rapid-fire dialogue drive the action as the farce builds to hilarious extremes.

At its heart, Rumors is a comedy about how easily people complicate their lives when they refuse to tell the truth, proving Simon’s famous idea that honesty would be far easier than remembering every lie.

Directed by Laken Jenkins with Assistant Director Joclyn Ewers, Rumors runs January 29 through February 7 and promises an evening of nonstop laughter and classic theatrical comedy.

RUMORS