Casting Performers for "Rumors" Play

Slick, handsome Ken Gorman is a New York City lawyer. He is resourceful and inventive in his plan to deceive the dinner guests that arrive after him. His explanations are not always the most convincing, but they get the job done. He hates nothing more than a scandal; he’ll do anything to keep Charley’s name, and his own, off the front page.

Chris Gorman is the excitable, easily flustered wife of Ken Gorman. Like her husband, she is a lawyer; her specialty is contract law. She has been trying to quit smoking cigarettes, but stressful situations bring on the urge to smoke again. Her beauty and elegance are accentuated by a stunning wardrobe, and a cultivated taste in well drinks. She is quick on her feet, able to concoct a far-fetched story in seconds.

Claire Ganz, wife of Lenny Ganz, enjoys being elegant, and yet enters the play with a handkerchief held up to her bruised face. She and her husband have a chummy relationship, but she can be a bit dominating, especially when she wants something. Her appetite for gossip and “rumors” is insatiable. The actress cast in this role should be mindful of class: Claire is a proud and unassuming member of a tennis club; her husband drives a BMW.

Fresh off getting T-boned in his brand-new BMW, Lenny Ganz enters the stage with a stiff neck and a high temper. He is an accountant; one of his clients is Charley Brock, who he thinks he is meeting tonight for a dinner party. He is a good friend to all, but the situation brought on in the play is too much: he often bubbles over into foam-at-the-mouth frustration.

Ernie and his wife, Cookie, have the misfortune of arriving late to the party. Clearly something is wrong, but they are among the last to find out what it is. Ernie is a psychiatrist. He has an air of dignity, being a well-respected doctor and a loyal husband. Yet when he goes to answer the door for the last guests, Glenn and Cassie Cooper, they mistake him for a butler.

Glenn Cooper is running for state senate in New York. Unfortunately, his marriage with wife Cassie Cooper has become almost unbearable. The two enter the play in the middle of a disagreement, which quickly escalates. Glenn is accused of being unfaithful, which he denies, but a risqué phone call near the end of the play casts some doubt. The actor playing Glenn should keep in mind that he loves Cassie; in the end, it does seem like their relationship is getting back to normal.

Cassie and her husband, Glenn, enter the play in an argument. She accuses him of being unfaithful, which he denies. She possesses a “two-million-year-old” crystal that she rubs to calm herself down. When this falls down the toilet after some rude knocking by Glenn on the bathroom door, she tries to get back at him by flirting with the other men at the party.

Officer Welch arrives at Charley Brock’s estate to find a very unusual dinner party going on. He is a strait-laced cop in a small town 20 miles north of New York City. Only a well-timed story by the man who claims to be Charley Brock is enough to send him on his way. Unlike the stereotypical cop, he is not without a sense of humor.

Officer Pudney takes two calls on her walkie-talkie in the final scene of the play. Everything hinges on what she hears. The first announcement lets the whole crew off the hook, while the second threatens to do them in for good.

Cookie is a famous TV chef, so the last thing she wants at a dinner party with friends is to spend her whole night cooking dinner. Her back condition has been aggravated in the car crash that she and her husband Lenny incurred on the way to the house. She is smarter than people give her credit for. The actress portraying this role should be able to laugh at herself. Cookie is good at that: she tells the police very matter-of-factly that her siblings’ names are Candy and Taffy.