Historic Elk Rapids Town Hall Association

presents the

Theatre North TC  Production

of

 Greater Tuna

 

by Jaston Williams, Joe Sears, and Ed Howard

Greater Tuna is the hilarious comedy about the third smallest town in Texas, where the Lion's Club is too liberal and Patsy Cline never dies.  The twenty colorful characters that make up this town are portrayed by only two performers, Joe Kilpatrick and Patrick Feak, under the direction of Denni Don Hunting.  They make this satire on life in rural America delightful as they change costumes and characters to depict all of the inhabitants of Tuna -- men, women, children and animals.

Joe Kilpatrick

In the backwater town of Tuna, TX, the big news of the day is the unseemly passing of Judge Roscoe Buckner, who was found dead wearing a one-piece Dale Evans' swimsuit with lots of 'cowgal fringe'.  DJ's Thurston Wheelis and Arles Struvie make the disturbing announcement from the local radio station OKKK, while the denizens of Tuna tune in for their daily dosage of gossip and farm reports.

Through the course of the play, we discover small-town rivalry, small town gossip, a hefty dose of bigotry and xenophobia, and more than a few oddball characters.  We have Bertha Bumiller, wife of Hank and mother to Jody, Stanley, and Charlene; member of the Smut Snatchers of the New Order.  Hunter, Clansman, and road crew foreman Hank Bumiller who thinks that the sharecroppers make deer hunting difficult and need to be taught a lesson.  Dottering Pearl Burras, who hates dogs enough to poison them, despite living with a $2000 birddog.  Sheriff Givens whose only job seems to be chasing after parking violators.  Leonard Childers, the station manager of OKKK. Disk jockey Thurston Wheelis. Yippy -- a dog of indeterminate breeding and undesirable house manners.  And the Reverand Spikes, who leads the local Baptist church and is president of the Smut Snatchers of the New Order.

Patrick Feak

And that's just half of the characters!

 Greater Tuna began in 1981 as a party skit based on a political cartoon.  By 1985, Greater Tuna was the most produced play in the United States, playing coast to coast in schools, colleges, community and professional theatres.  It crossed the Atlantic, in 1988 and returned for two command performances at the White House upon the invitation of President and Mrs. Bush in 1990 and 1991.  Responding to the demand for a sequel Williams, Sears, and Howard created A Tuna Christmas.  In December of 1994 A Tuna Christmas played on Broadway to rave reviews.  A third play, Red White and Blue Tuna  began touring nationally in 1998.

Our two men and a town began touring with the fourth Tuna play in 2008, Tuna Does Vegas.


Greater Tuna is a comedy in two acts with an intermission.

Performance dates are:	July 30 & 31, 2010	8pm Curtain
	and August 1, 2010	8pm Curtain
TICKETS are:	$10.00 and available thru TREAT (800) 836-0717  at the door 30 minutes before the production.

 The Historic Elk Rapids Town Hall is located at 401 River Street in Elk Rapids.