Brittany Bento is an angry wife. Well, her character is at least.
The vain and insecure Cassie Cooper suspects her husband, Glenn, is cheating on her and she's hopping mad.
So when the Grade 12 Archbishop Carney secondary student is asked how she'll pull off the role for the three nights Rumours is on stage, Bento response is sweet: "I'll just think about my younger brother and how he really annoys me."
Bento is one of 10 students in the Carney Star Players' ensemble cast for the Neil Simon comedy, which opens tomorrow (Thursday) at the Terry Fox Theatre in Port Coquitlam. Her husband is played by Matthew Montgomery, a Grade 10 student who is one of the youngest in the show.
Drama coach and director Charles Harris said he chose Rumours because he likes Simon's fast-paced and quick-witted style; previously, the school produced The Odd Couple and God's Favorite - two Simon plays that also examine relationships.
First staged on Broadway in 1988, Rumours is set in the upscale home of Charley and Myra Brock, a couple celebrating their 10th anniversary but who are never seen by the audience.
As the first guests arrive for their party, Myra is missing and Charley, the deputy mayor of New York City, is in an upstairs bedroom bleeding from an apparent gunshot wound to the earlobe. They unsuccessfully try to hide the incident from the other guests and, soon, the police walk in and reporters are at the door.
Cayla Wedemeyer, a Grade 11 student who plays Officer Welch, said she was eager to continue her theatrical pursuits at the school. When the audition call went out last fall, "I heard it was going to be a comedy so I wanted to be in it," she said during an interview last week.
Still, Wedemeyer is no stranger to the stage. Her first role was in Grade 4 as Wendy in Moonstone Theatre Company's Peter Pan. She also performed in that company's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Hamlet and The Tempest, has penned one-act plays for Carney and was in last year's Wizard of Oz.
Other Carney Star Players who have had outside training include Bento (Spectacular Productions); Jenna Testani and Clare-Anne Queenan (Lindbjerg Academy of Performing Arts); and Stephanie Dufault (Broadway Bound Performing Arts Studio).
For Bento, who plans to study theatre after graduating this spring, she has enjoyed the extracurricular rehearsals - two or three times a week since December - and looks forward to opening night.
"I like the adrenaline rush and being on stage," she said. "It's so much fun, and all your friends and family are there. It's just a really wonderful feeling."
Rumours runs Thursday to Saturday at the Terry Fox Theatre (1260 Riverwood Gate, Port Coquitlam) at 7 p.m. Email [email protected] for $12 tickets.
renzo Bisceglia: Lenny Ganz
Stephane Dufault: Officer Pudney
Arlyn Jordan: Cookie Cusack
Leo Kim: Ernie Cusack
Matthew Montgomery: Glenn Cooper
Jason Navarra: Ken Gorman
Clare-Anne Queenan: Claire Ganz
Jenna Testani: Chris Gorman
Cayla Wedemeyer: Officer Welch
