Welcome to the town of Tuna, “the third smallest town in the state of Texas.”
In this fictional community, there are two radio DJs, an animal rights activist, a dog who’s been pet of the month for five weeks in a row, a crazy sheriff, a town drunk and, of course, a family to center around.
This is the town that is at the center of attention in “Greater Tuna,” written by Jaston Williams, Joe Sears and Ed Howard.
It’s a play with only two cast members and it’ll make its return to Permian Playhouse starting next week with shows from Feb. 24-26 and March 3-5.
The director of this show is Dominic Lopez, a person who is well familiar with the play and is no stranger to Basin Theatre Works.
However, this is his first time back at Permian Playhouse after a couple of years.
“It’s been awhile,” Lopez said. “I did ‘Christmas Story.’ I did a couple of sketch comedies that I wrote. I did an audio play called ‘The Adventures of Fred Brown and His Amazing Pan Dimensional Multi-ship’ … Years ago, I did ‘Charlotte’s Web.’ At The Globe a few years ago, I did ‘Romeo and Juliet.’ I think that’s everything I’ve directed here at the Playhouse. There are like two or three different sketch comedy shows that I’ve done.”
“Greater Tuna” is an affectionate comment on small-town, southern life and attitudes but also a withering satire of the same.
“It’s a day in the life of this little town in Texas because it starts off with the radio station coming on the air and ends with them going off the air,” Lopez said. “Radio stations used to go off the air at midnight. We just sort of get a glimpse of the day in the life of this town and family. There’s some important things that happen but they happen off stage. A prominent citizen dies and so there’s dealing with some of that and looking at the causes of it.”
The play is notable in that two men play the entire cast of about 20 eccentric characters of both genders and various ages.
Playing the role of these different characters are Mario Contreras and Brandon Thomason.
Contreras and Thomason have both performed on stage before but this will be their first time doing “Greater Tuna.”
“Well, I had been waiting for a good show,” Contreras said. “’Greater Tuna,’ I had heard about it from my previous years of doing theater. I knew it was a two-man show, which is a challenge to say the least with learning how to play different characters and only having one other person to synergize with. It’s been good.”
To play so many different people in the show has been a challenge but a fun one for Contreras, who is a native Odessan and graduated from Permian in 1997.
“That’s what I’m liking about ‘Greater Tuna,’” Contreras said. “It’s the fact that it’s just me and him. We have to play these different characters. These characters have their own energy and their own fun dialogue. Normally, I’ve been used to a big ensemble or cast but with greater tuna, it’s been challenging but a lot of fun.”
Some of the characters that Contreras plays includes Arles Struvie (one of the disc jockeys at the radio station), Charlene Bumiller (a 15-year old wannabe cheerleader), Vera Carp (a town snob), Phinas Blye (a politician who runs for City Council every election and fails) and Petey Fisk (a member of the Greater Tuna Humane Society).
There are a lot of lines to memorize but Contreras has enjoyed it so far.
“It’s been challenging but as an actor, I can appreciate it,” Contreras said. “In theater, we’re always learning new aspects of roles but this one is not only learning the dialogue but it’s also learning the character and mannerism. It’s been a challenge but very rewarding.”
Also on stage is another longtime Odessan as Thomason graduated from Odessa High back in 2004.
While he’s been in other shows, this will be Thomason’s first time acting for Basin Theatre Works.
“I’m very excited,” Thomason said. “I’ve been waiting a long time but I’m excited about it. I’ve been working with Dominic in the past and this is his first time directing me.”
Thomason started with the Globe Theatre back in 2005 and that’s been his main stage since.
His list of characters in the show include Thurston Wheelis (another disc jockey at the radio station), Bertha Bumiller (the mother of Charlene), Pearl Burras (the aunt to Bertha), R.R. Snavely (the town drunk and UFOlogist) as well as Reverend Spikes.
“Those are my main characters and then I have some smaller roles,” Thomason said.
Some of the roles Thomason said he enjoys playing are the female characters.
“I enjoy playing Bertha and Pearl, the two female roles,” Thomason said. “It’s fun being totally different. And then, probably the reverend and I play RR and it’s a small role but he’s funny.”
Being born and raised in Texas, Contreras says there’s a lot to enjoy about this play. He’s also been involved with Basin Theatre Works a lot in the past.
“I like that it’s set in Texas, first and foremost,” Contreras said. “I’m a native Texan. There’s a lot of Texas pride for the show. I also like the energy that Brandon and I bring to the characters. I like that it’s coming on at the Playhouse. This is my alma mater for theater. I like the differences in the characters we’re playing and the different uniqueness for each character. It’s just the overall energy behind the show. It’s fun and comedic and I think it’s going to bring a lot of laughs.”
Doing a play with only two cast members means there’s a lot of scene changes and costume changes going on in the background.
“There are a lot of quick costume changes,” Lopez said. “A lot of time, one of them will be on stage while the other goes off. Then maybe, they’ll switch like one will stay on stage while the other goes off to switch to being a couple of different characters.”
There have been other challenges with doing a play with two cast members.
“If one of the cast members get sick then you can’t really rehearse whereas if you have 20 people and one person gets sick, you can maybe go ahead and rehearse anyway,” Lopez said. “If anything happens to one of the two cast members, it delays everything.”
Rehearsals began in January with four nights of practices each week.
For Thomason, it’s not the first time he’s done a show with just two people.
“I did a short for the spring festival at Odessa College and it was just me and another person in a one act play,” Thomason said.
If you go
- What: “Greater Tuna.”
- When: 7 p.m. Feb. 24, 7 p.m. Feb. 25, 2 p.m. Feb. 26, 7 p.m. March 3, 7 p.m. March 4 and 2 p.m. March 5.
- Where: Permian Playhouse.
- Where to purchase tickets: tinyurl.com/yx75nax9
