←Recommendations of Just A Rumor

What a delight! Witty, fun, and pure gold. Golden like the Golden Age of Hollywood. Shine on, Doug DeVita! Warning, you may have a craving for Yorkshire pudding after this wonderful experience.

Lord, what a lot of fun! An actor's (and especially, mature actresses') dream, with snappy, witty dialogue that flies off the tongue as one can't help but read out loud, with feeling. A picture perfect snapshot of Hollywood stars, morals, roles played, lies told, and truths hidden. Crisp, witty, loving, I shall forever be searching for audition notices for this one. Bravo!

As a lover of 'The Golden Age of Hollywood' this play was right up my street. Wonderfully created characters armed with beautiful dialogue that flowed the whole piece with a natural ease, what is there not to love about this play?!

The love and reverence for Old Hollywood is more than a rumor in this wonderful, dead-on comedy by Gary Lyons and Doug DeVita. It’s 1968, and the open secret of venerable movie stars Graham and Rosalynne’s 25-year love affair is forced into a crash landing. Graham has toppled over and died in the kitchen of the house they share, and now Rosalynne must call Graham’s wife and take the consequences. There’s enough delicious sniping and backbiting for three good movies in here, so get a bucket of popcorn and enjoy the ride.

"Just a Rumor" is a beautifully written play that very sweetly pays homage to some of Hollywood's icons of the golden age. The dialogue is smart, and the characters are well-defined. Everything flows with ease both from scene to scene and from witty banter between characters to emotionally poignant monologues.

Maybe I'm late to the party, but as a playwright who writes about the Golden Age of Hollywood and theater myself, I was drawn to this play. It's a terrific look at the dichotomy between what happened back in the day and today's Hollywood. I love the characters and the references. I can see why this play has received its accolades.

In this outstanding nod to Old Hollywood, Lyons and DeVita have constructed a parallel universe so utterly convincing, I found myself continuingly asking myself if the references to movies and industry anecdotes were real. The style of the banter, the crispness of the dialogue, the concerns of the characters are so precisely dialed in to 20th century industry culture, it makes this smart noir comedy all the more brilliant. Too heartfelt to be simply a farce, and far too funny to be a straight up dramedy, this play threads numerous genre needles. One of my favorite plays found on NPX!

Gray Harris, celebrated actor, collapses and dies on his kitchen floor at 3 a.m. – this event forms the centerpiece of this wonderful play, but there’s much more. Love, devotion, denial, comedy, and many amusing references to Hollywood legends (my favorite is to Charlie Chaplin ). Lyons and DeVita take us in and out of the situation unfolding on the night of Gray’s death, back to the making of a ground-breaking movie, and forward to consider that night through the eyes of central characters. Thoroughly engaging, this will definitely play in Peoria, and that’s not just a rumor! Bravo!

DOUG DEVITA (co-written with GARY LYONS)’s “Just A Rumor”, is a marvelous play of two Hollywood legends who became lovers, best friends, and partners for twenty-five years, while he remained married. The play is fascinating in the story it tells, the characters it portrays, and the situations in which they find themselves. Mr. DeVita is a brilliant storyteller, and this play is one of his best. There are parts in this play that are hilarious. You will be totally in love with this play. BRAVO!

Who called whom first? Where did they die? What happened at this meeting? Speculation abounds in this witty and touching dark comedy. Laugh-out-loud dialogue is well-matched with the deeper themes that DeVita and Lyons are exploring here, such as love, grief, and legacy. The piece also explores how rumors and contradictions of a person's life become a part of their legacy until they take on a mythic proportion, becoming Hollywood lore in the process.