"Rumors"

Went to T.O.P.S., courtesy of Cheryl, and weighed in at 129.6, a slight loss from last week. The "program" (non-program) was meandering, as usual, but not too bad.
Breakfast late, as usual on Friday, at 10:30. Treated a stain in the carpet, watered the tomatoes, and did a few other domestic chores before lunch. After, I walked the back way to Telephone Road, took a bus to Winco for spinach and grapes and the nearby Dollar Tree for shower caps and bathroom cups. Bused back to Hill Road and walked home the back way from there. Had another sketchy, leftover dinner, consisting of peas, zucchini, and the last of the baked onions. Gail picked me up at 7:15 and off we went to the Fractured Actors production of Neil Simon's Rumors.
This is a wacky and hilarious farce involving a house party, an accidental shooting, the cover-up, infidelity, and a television cook with a back ache.  As any good comedy does, it has more plot twists than a misbegotten pretzel and it was terrific. It was staged as a reading, so with just a bare stage with music stands holding the scripts and the bare minimum of blocking. As I know from experience, if the performers are any good at all,  the audience quickly forgets the omission of scenery and props and just gets into it.
And, boy, were they good.  Besides two people I don't know, the cast featured many of those who were in American Roadhouse, in which I appeared in August: Jeff and Shannon, Erica, Amanda, and young Ben, old Ben, Karen, and Mike. Of course, they got a standing ovation and deserved it.
After, I had a great time greeting everybody--many of the above, plus Anthony, Dottie, Kat, and others. Shannon said they have some other shows in mind and asked about my availability; I said I'm available anytime she contacts me and she'll get in touch.
For the second night in a row, I didn't walk in the door until 10:30. Wow, this late-night stuff is exhausting, much as I enjoyed the reasons, and I'm looking forward to Downton Abbey and an early turn-in tonight.