[NEohioPAL] Hilarious "A Tuna Christmas" at Weathervane

[Jan Harcar]

Weathervane Playhouse's

'A Tuna Christmas' Repeats the Sounding Joy of a Wacky Texas Town Named Tuna

 

Two Men Portray All 22 Wacky Characters
in this Hilarious Holiday Romp
 

O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant, to the little town of Tuna, Texas, where the Lions Club is too liberal and Patsy Cline never really died! Christmas comes early this year to Weathervane Playhouse, where two men portray 22 of the most outrageously loveable characters in the hilariously wacky A Tuna Christmas - playing for only nine performances between Dec. 2 and 18, 2010

 

It's Christmas time in Greater Tuna, Texas and, as usual, the community is buzzing about the annual Christmas Yard Display Contest - even though Vera Carp looks to win it again, what with the addition of live sheep to her exhibit!

 

Adding to the Yuletide excitement, the infamous Christmas Phantom is wreaking havoc across town. Bertha Bumiller has a mean, ugly, stray cat giving birth in her closet. Waitress Inita Goodwin is wielding a hair dryer to thaw the hamburger. And then there's Didi Snavel (of "Didi's Used Weapons"), who reminds us all how dangerous it can be "to ride unarmed in a one-horse open sleigh."

 

That's only a sample of the endearingly dizzy denizens of Greater Tuna and their stories - all played by two actors! Somehow, despite the mayhem, all manage to have a Merry Christmas - and to take audiences along for the ride!

 

Under the direction of Eileen Moushey, A Tuna Christmas pokes gentle fun at rural America - but this theatrical gift comes wrapped in a nuttier-than-a-partridge-in-a-pear-tree Yuletide warmth and fondness for the eclectic folk of Tuna, Texas. 

 

The A Tuna Christmas Cast and their Ohio Hometowns
 

Gabriel Riazi (of Akron) 

 

Gerard Neary (of Wadsworth) 

 

About the Director of A Tuna Christmas 
 

EILEEN MOUSHEY is a freelance writer/director whose most previous directing assignment for Weathervane was 2009's Mrs. Bob Cratchit's Wild Christmas Binge. Her company, Mysteries by Moushey, performs interactive murder mysteries throughout Northeast Ohio, and her scripts have been produced by more than 1,000 theaters and schools all over the world. She also writes video scripts and is a two-time regional Emmy Award winner. She has also been active at Weathervane Playhouse for over 25 years as a volunteer and has received several of the Playhouse's Chanticleer Awards for designing sound, lighting and stage properties for Weathervane productions. She also has a "Best Actress" Chanticleer Award. Her other Weathervane directorial credits include Mitch Albom's And the Winner Is and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. She has also served on the Playhouse's Board of Trustees (including one stint as president) and she has served as the chair of Weathervane's two most recent capital-expansion campaigns. She lives in Kent with her husband, Stephen (the sound designer for this production).

 

The A Tuna Christmas  Backstage Team and their Ohio Hometowns

 

Stage Manager - Mary Kate Clancy (of Munroe Falls)

 

Costume Designer - Jasen J. Smith (of Akron)

 

Lighting Designer - Susan Stout Davis (of Cuyahoga Falls)

 

Properties Designer - Tom Abdoo (of Clinton)

 

Sound Designer - Stephen Moushey (of Kent)

 

Scenic Designer and Technical Director - Alan Scott Ferrall (of Cuyahoga Falls)

 

Technical Director - Kathy Kohl (of Akron)

 

Ticket and Performance Information
 

A Tuna Christmas plays on Weathervane Playhouse's Founders Theater stage between Dec. 2 and 18, 2010.  Performances are Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays at 7:30 p.m. with one 3:30 p.m. matinee on Saturday, Dec. 18.

 

Tickets for all performances of the play are $21 each. Discounted tickets for seniors and college students are $19 each for all performances; tickets for children (ages 17 or younger) are $17 each for all performances. Groups of 12 or larger can save even more when they ask about a special group-rate discount.

 

For tickets, call the Weathervane Box Office at (330) 836-2626 or connect online to www.weathervaneplayhouse.com.

 

About the Play and the Playwrights
 

About the Play's Production History
 

A Tuna Christmas is a sequel to Greater Tuna - but even those who have not seen the first play will be able to fully enjoy the amusingly eclectic citizens in this Yuletide-themed outing. Creative collaborators Ed Howard, Joe Sears and Jaston Williams first created the "Tuna phenomenon" more than 20 years ago as a party skit in Austin, Texas. After this whimsical, improvised beginning, the men crafted a full-length play, Greater Tuna, which had its first production in Austin in the fall of 1981. Two of the creators, Sears and Williams, played all the characters in the play - and after much critical acclaim in Texas, the show took to the road.

 

The resulting Greater Tuna tour proved to be such a success that even "sophisticated" New York City took notice, and the show enjoyed a 13-month, 501-performance run off Broadway at Circle in the Square Downtown. Next came a 1984 HBO cable-TV special, which increased the show's popularity. 

 

By 1985, Greater Tuna ranked among one of the most-performed plays in America. And thus was born the idea for a sequel - A Tuna Christmas. In the fall of 1989, A Tuna Christmas had a "pre-Austin" try-out in San Francisco prior to opening in Austin in November of that year. In the years thereafter, Sears and Williams continued to tour across America with A Tuna Christmas show each Yuletide season. Ultimately, the two men took the show to Broadway in 1994, where A Tuna Christmas played for a limited run of eight previews and 20 performances. For his multiple-character portrayals, Sears was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play. In the years since, two more plays have been added to the Tuna canon -- Red, White and Tuna and Tuna Does Vegas. As of December 2010, Sears and Williams are still touring with A Tuna Christmas, which is booked for several engagements in Tennessee and Texas between now and January 2011. (Check out the tour schedule and learn more at www.GreaterTunaVisitorsCenter.com.)

 

 About the Playwrights

 

ED HOWARD collaborated with Joe Sears and Jaston Williams to create the four Tuna plays (and their multitudinous characters): Greater Tuna; A Tuna Christmas; Red, White and Tuna; and Tuna Does Vegas. His other plays include Romeo and Thorazine, I'm Not Lying, Morning Star, A Little Iffy, Splendora, The Tempest Tossed (co-written with Dennis West), and Coming Attractions (based on the novel Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man by Fannie Flagg). As a director, his Broadway credits include A Tuna Christmas and his off-Broadway credits include Greater Tuna, A Tuna Christmas and Romulus Linney's Laughing Stockby (starring Frances Sternhagen).

 

JOE SEARS collaborated with Ed Howard and Jaston Williams to create the four Tuna plays (and their multitudinous characters): Greater Tuna; A Tuna Christmas; Red, White and Tuna; and Tuna Does Vegas. For his performance in A Tuna Christmas, he received a 1995 Tony Award nomination for Best Actor in a Play. His other acting credits include many roles in summer stock, outdoor drama, a season at TheatreworksUSA in New York City, television, films and several Shakespeare plays. He wrote the Cherokee Nation's outdoor drama, Trail of Tears, which runs during the summer months in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. Among his awards, he received the 1993 Los Angeles Dramalogue Award for Best Actor in A Tuna Christmas and the Theatre L.A. Ovation Award for Best Actor in 1999.

 

JASTON WILLIAMS collaborated with Ed Howard and Joe Sears to create the four Tuna plays (and their multitudinous characters): Greater Tuna; A Tuna Christmas; Red, White and Tuna; and Tuna Does Vegas. For his performance in A Tuna Christmas, he received a nomination for Washington D.C.'s Helen Hayes Award, and he holds another Helen Hayes Award nomination for his performance in The Foreigner. His hometown is Austin, Texas, where he has appeared at the State Theatre in The Chairs and at the Zachary Scott Theatre in The Laramie Project and Tru (for the latter of which he received the Austin Critics Table Award for Best Actor in a drama). As a playwright, his shows include Romeo and Thorazine, I'm Not Lying and Cowboy Noises. Among his awards, he received the L.A. Dramalogue Award for both Greater Tuna and A Tuna Christmas and the Texas Governor's Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Arts by a Native Texan.

 

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Weathervane Playhouse and its dedicated volunteers offer vital performing arts resources for the people of Northeastern Ohio. We create exciting and thought-provoking shows with impressive production values. Through educational programs and volunteer opportunities for people of all ages and backgrounds, Weathervane serves the theater community, our patrons and our volunteers.

 

The Ohio Arts Council helped fund this program with state tax dollars to encourage economic growth, education excellence and cultural enrichment for all Ohioans.

 

Additional 2010-2011 season sponsors

89.7 WSKU-FM

The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company

OMONOVA Solutions Foundation

Sisler McFawn Foundation

Akron Community Foundation

Kenneth L. Calhoun Charitable Trust

The Margaret Clark Morgan Foundation

Mary S. and David C. Corbin Foundation


Janis Harcar
Director of Advancement
Weathervane Playhouse
330-836-2323 X16
www.weathervaneplayhouse.com
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