GREATER TUNA
byJaston Williams Ed Howard Joe Sears
Produced by Leonard Jowers
Directed by Frank Thompson
Presented by arrangement with Samuel French, Inc.

CAST
JONATHAN GOLDSTEIN FRANK THOMPSON
as as
Arles Struvie Thurston Wheelis
Didi Snavely Elmer Watkins
Harold Dean Lattimer Bertha Bumiller
Petey Fisk Yippy
Jody Bumiller Leonard Childers
Stanley Bumiller Pearl Burras
Charlene Bumiller R.R. Snavely
Chad Hartford Reverend Spikes
Phinas Blye Sheriff Givens
Vera Carp Hank Bumiller

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

August 24 & 25, 2001, 8 pm
Homewood High School's Bailey Theatre
Few shows have sustained the longevity and popularity that Greater Tuna has enjoyed over the years. The Greater Tuna legend is a matter of history. The show began as a simple party skit based on a political cartoon more than 15 years ago in Austin, Texas. Talented creators Joe Sears, Jaston Williams and Ed Howard were the imaginative authors that parlayed the sketch into a critically acclaimed production which has entertained audiences across the country ever since.
Greater Tuna is the hilarious comedy about Texas' third smallest town, where the Lion's Club is too liberal and Patsy Cline never dies. The eclectic band of citizens that make up this town are portrayed by only two performers, making this satire on life in rural America even more delightful as they depict all of the inhabitants of Tuna -- men, women, children and animals.
The play is set in Tuna, a mythical small town in West Texas, where everyone listens to Radio OKKK, all 275 watts of it. Topping the headlines is the winning entry in the American Heritage Essay Contest, entitled: "Human Rights, Why Bother?"
Tuna's residents include a variety of eccentrics, bigots, oddballs and mean spirits. There's Aunt Pearl, who poisons the town's stray dogs; Vera Carp, the richest woman in town and vice president of the Smut Snatchers club, which aims to rid the high school dictionaries of all offensive words; and Didi Snavely, a gun shop owner, who decorates her Christmas tree with grenades and whose slogan is, "If Didi's can't kill it, it's immortal".
Two actors play each and every one of the characters - a total of 20 in Greater Tuna - jumping in and out of dresses or overalls in as little as nine seconds. The actors bring depth to their characters, lifting the play above the level of political satire.