WOW… how hysterical! I continued my part in establishing relations between the WCCT and the Village Players by attending a production of Greater Tuna. I’m not sure if there could be a less politically correct, laugh out loud play. Taking place largely at radio station OKKK (get it?) operating on 250 (help me out here Mare) watts in really backwater, hickville Tuna, Texas, two actors embody 20 citizens of the town. Travis and Alex… man I don’t know how they did it… had accents for each character that were perfect and mannerisms that were a hoot.
Some of my favorite characters:
- Bertha Bumiller (married to Hank who is a member of such civic minded organizations as Smut-Snatchers and a committee to reduce the number of blacks in literature which has banned such books as Roots, Huckleberry Finn, and Romeo and Juliet. And the group is also looking into Shakespeare’s other works)
- Stanley Bumiller (son of Hank and Bertha a juvenile delinquent)
- Charlene Bumiller (high school senior daughter who has been trying for 7 years to be make the cheerleading squad with no success whatsoever but seems to be the town’s poet laureate)
- Jody Bumiller (youngest child has a pack of 8-10 dogs provided by “puppy pusher” and humane activist, Petey Fisk who has a speech impediment)
- Reverend Spikes (Baptist minister and leader of the Smut-Snatchers. Alex delivered IMHO the finest speech in the play by eulogizing the greatness of the deceased judge)
During the extraordinary amount of costume changes, there were PSAs broadcasted. One of my favorites was an ad for Spatula Warehouse where if you buy 10 spatulas you can get one for a penny. Definitely not for everyone, but if you can put aside most of your morals and are able to laugh with the play as they satirize almost every politically correct thing imaginable then definitely look for Greater Tuna and its sequels.
Aw, man – would have liked to see it…
They should have played for 2 weekends. Just having the one weekend of shows on Memorial Day weekend had to have been tough!
I know how tough it was for me in St. Louis to do a one weekend only show. What do you think, Mare? Do you ever wish you could do a two weekend run instead of just the three performances?
Every show we say “If we could do it for two weekends, we might make some money.” HOWEVER, when our only venue charges $300 a night to do the show, it kind of cuts in to our budget. We lost money on this show….yet again. What do you do????
Jamiahsh, I’m glad you enjoyed the show. I know the guys enjoyed doing it, and overall, I enjoyed directing it. I don’t know of anything else that I’m really enthused about doing anymore. Maybe my talent is better on stage than behind stage???
I really did enjoy it and I could tell that Travis and Alex were having a ball. I believe someone with WCCT was looking at a two man piece. After seeing Tuna it kind of intrigues me… and would like to take up the challenge of being it one. Directing is not my forte… maybe when I get tired of being on stage? 😉 But that will be quite awhile.