In November, Mentor High’s very own students spent countless hours preparing and performing for their rendition of Neil Simon’s Rumors. Rumors is set in New York when four affluent families meet for a dinner party. Yet, they’re in a state of chaos, and the play follows the characters trying to avoid a scandal.

Mr. Greene, when reminiscing on the show, stated, “There isn’t anything I would change on a big scale, but I would tweak small things here and there. The great thing about this cast, in particular, was that they were truly up for anything I would suggest they do. They had zero inhibition and were willing to do anything in the name of the show.”

“I think the best thing about theater is the community!” Alyssa Petric, Assistant Stage Manager during Rumors, says. “Everyone who participates has a very kind and open nature. It really makes you feel like you’re an important part of a team!”

Yet, what you saw performed on the stage of Fine Arts Center took the cast and crew hours to prepare for, as Mr. Greene noted, “The unforeseen mishaps that occur at every performance” are the most difficult things for both the crew and cast to prepare for.

Freshman cast member Alayna Gagliardi talked about her time preparing for lines.

“While I’ve not always struggled with memorizing lines,” Alayna says, “lines that cause the scene to shift can become difficult to remember.”

Another Freshman cast member, Cooper Burress, talking about lines says, “…learning lines, it’s something you really have to work at, and no matter the size of role, if someone doesn’t know or forgets their line, it could throw off the entire tempo of the show. This is why you have to make sure to put a lot of time into making sure you have your lines completely memorized. An example of this was me in this show as I had over 100 lines in act 1 and about 100 in act 2, on top of this, I had a 5-minute monologue at the end. This was a lot of work and effort to memorize it all, and was a tall task that took me quite a bit, but even though it was quite difficult after a while, it became almost natural because of how much we practiced, so the lines just became ingrained in my head. So though it might [be] hard, it just takes a lot of time.”

Despite this difficulty, Burress stated that his favorite part was, “being able to work with such nice and talented people, as when you’re a part of a cast it feels like such a close and great community. This was especially evident as I’ve met two of my closet friends through theater. And this doesn’t just apply to the cast, as working with such a good director like Mr Greene was also amazing, as he helped us have so much.”

This reflects the thoughts of Petric, who talked above about the close-knit community theater becomes.

A freshman makeup crew member stated, “Making sure the makeup looks good, stands out, but not it’s not too bold,” is the hardest part of preparing the cast members for their performance. Another freshman crew member stated, “Cleaning the brushes was quite tedious,” when continuing to talk about the difficulty of makeup.

Many audience members seemed to enjoy Rumors. Mr. Greene said, “Audiences seemed to enjoy the show based on the laughter each night.”

Audience member Evelyn Southworth says, “There was no single part where they did good. It was all good. There was a lot going on, and they did really good keeping character.”

The hours these cast members spent preparing shows, yet the crew’s work did not go unnoticed either.

“I think the makeup was really good…” Evelyn continued. “I think the crew did really good. I don’t think they need to do anything better.”

Another audience member, Caelan Ahlborn, also gave feedback to Cardinal Nation, saying, “I loved the humour” and commenting on the cast by saying, “They portrayed their characters very well.” She also commented on the crew, “The costumes were beautiful, and the set was amazing.”

Look Ahead

Looking ahead, Mentor’s theater program will soon be back at it, working on another performance of Fiddler on the Roof! Its opening weekend is April 16, 17, 18, and 19, 2026. Auditions took place in September, along with the auditions for Rumors.

Fiddler on the Roof is an American classic musical following Jewish milkman, Tevye, and his family in Russia during the turn of the 20th century. Well-known songs in the musical include “Tradition,” “Sunrise, Sunset,” and “If I Were a Rich Man.” The musical also had themes of changing social values and will bring new ideas to both the cast and the audience.

Students, staff, and parents can view the Schoology announcements, and all can contact Mr. Greene with additional questions.