A Ponoka face joins the chaos of Rumors
There’s a little extra Central Alberta flavour joining the Cow Patti stage this fall.
Ponoka’s Ken Robinson makes his Cow Patti acting debut in Neil Simon’s Rumors, stepping into the role of Glenn Cooper as one of ten guests caught in a dinner party that goes spectacularly off the rails.
For a production built around gossip, confusion and an increasingly tangled web of stories, Ken may actually be one of the least qualified members of the company when it comes to spreading rumours.
Asked whether he has ever started one, his answer was simple: “Never! Hate gossip.”
Has he ever heard a rumour about himself?
Not one worth remembering, apparently.
That dry sense of humour seems like a pretty good fit for a Neil Simon farce where nearly everyone spends the evening trying to figure out what happened, what everyone else knows, and what story they’re supposed to be telling.
A Local Face Under the Tin Roof
While Rumors marks Ken’s first appearance as an actor with Cow Patti, he isn’t entirely unfamiliar with the people behind the company.
When asked to name someone he has enjoyed working with on stage or screen, Ken’s answer was Cow Patti Artistic Producing Director AnnaMarie Lea.
This fall, that connection brings a Ponoka performer into a company filled with familiar Cow Patti favourites, returning artists and new faces from across Canada.
For Cow Patti, there’s something particularly fitting about having local Alberta talent in the mix during its 30th season. The company was built around bringing professional theatre to rural communities, and Rumors gives a local performer the opportunity to step onto the Tin Roof stage alongside a seasoned Canadian cast. Cow Patti Theatre
A Few Things About Ken
Ken’s questionnaire gave us a few other things worth knowing.
His dinner-party meal of choice? Whatever somebody else is cooking. He’s more than willing to help with the dishes afterward.
Ask him his favourite thing about Alberta and the answer is wonderfully straightforward: “That it’s part of Canada.”
His reading pile currently includes Maurice Druon’s The Accursed Kings series, and when the subject inevitably turns back to rumours, Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours is the music that comes to mind.
And the advice he’d give his younger self feels particularly appropriate for a play built around gossip:
Don’t sweat too much about the things you hear. Most of it is made up anyway.
That may be sound advice in real life.
In Neil Simon’s Rumors?
It would probably make for a much shorter play.
See Ken in Rumors
Ken Robinson joins the Cow Patti company as Glenn Cooper when Rumors takes over the Tin Roof Event Centre from November 5 to December 13, 2026.
Come see a local face join a very talented company for one missing hostess, one injured host and one dinner party where absolutely nobody seems capable of telling the same story twice.