Set the fictional town of Tuna, Texas, the “third-smallest” town in the state.  The plays are at once an affectionate comment on small-town, Southern life and attitudes but also a withering satire of the same. The plays are notable in that generally, two men play the entire cast of over twenty eccentric characters of both genders and various ages (when the Company did Greater Tuna in 1989 – three actors covered all the parts). The plot of A Tuna Christmas centers on the town’s annual Christmas Yard Display Contest, won 14 times in a row by Vera Carp. A mysterious “Christmas Phantom,” known for vandalizing the yard displays, threatens to throw the contest into turmoil. Among the subplots are Stanley Bumiller’s attempts to end his probation and leave Tuna, Bertha Bumiller’s trying to hold her family together at Christmastime, and Joe Bob Lipsey’s struggle to mount successfully his production of A Christmas Carol despite numerous vexations and obstacles.

PERFORMANCE DATES: November 20 – December 13, 1997

CAST: Thurston Wheelis/Elmer Watkins/Bertha Bumiller/R.R. Snavely/Aunt Pearl Burras/Sheriff GIvens/Ike Thompson/Inita Goodwin/Leonard Childers/Phoebe Burkhalter/Joe Bob Lipsey – Kent Ross and Arles Struvie/Didi Snavely/Petey Fisk/Jody Bumiller/Charlene Bumiller/Stanley Bumiller/Vera Carp/Dixie Deberry/Helen Bedd/Farley Burkhalter/Garland Poteet – Kelly Carroll

CREW: Director – Don Steele, Stage Manager – Jennifer Bell, Light Board Operator/Sound Board Operator – Chris Cave, Costume Design – Carolyn Johnson, Hair/Make up – Johnny Martinez, Set Design – Linda Connelly, Sarah Simpson, Barry Metcalf, Darleen Smith, Paul marshall, Lise Sinclair

MENU: Applesauce salad, baked chicken breast with cream sauce, orzo pasta, peas and carrots, orange cranberry muffin, cheesecake.  Catering provided by Brona Love, Linda Bethke, Deedee Miller, Linda Owens, Kathy Morgan, Steve Morgan, Amy Reinter, Denis Ann Bamberger, Paul Marshall, Darleen Smith, Pete Bethke.

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