The Department of Fine Arts opens up their fall semester calendar with their first sponsored event “Rumors” by Neil Simon. The production will be under the direction of Mark Holtorf, Associate Professor of Theatre, and the cast will consist of ten actors; three seniors, two juniors, one sophomore and four freshman, which, according to Holtorf, is the most freshman the department has had in several years performing in a main stage play.

Holtorf described the play as “a farce. In theatre, just about any comedy that has more than three doors is a farce.”

He went on to say that Simon wrote this play to “rid himself of the demons of a recent divorce.”

In the play, Simon uses several squabbling couples to make light of complications that people go through on a day to day basis. The combination of the silly antics and Simon’s personal piece of himself makes for a very entertaining performance.

Beside the performance from a cast that Holtorf claims to be one of the most talented group of actors he’s seen in over a decade, the audience will be able to enjoy the works of the people behind the scenes that bring the whole production together. Backstage people did everything from working lights, building the set, to creating all of the necessary sounds of the play.

The production of Rumors opened Sept. 26 and will run to Sept. 30 every night 7:30 p.m. Tarleton students can see the performance for $5; seniors, children and faculty and staff $8 and adults for $10.

After the final performance of “Rumors” on Saturday night, the theatre crew will begin preparing and rehearsing for their next production. They will be getting ready for a production of “Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” for a younger audience.

Theatre goers can look forward to other productions by this talented cast and crew later in the semester.