Greater Tuna: Down-Home Comedy Lights Up Stage at Sunrise

BY MARY ELLE HUNTER: SPECIAL TO THE PILOT

Tuna, Texas, is the third smallest town in the state. It is also the setting for the popular comedy that Moore OnStage presents at the Sunrise Theatre for the next two weekends.

"Greater Tuna" began as a simple party skit based on a political cartoon more than 20 years ago in Austin, Texas. Talented creators Joe Sears, Jaston Williams and Ed Howard were the imaginative authors who parlayed the sketch into a critically acclaimed production that had an off-Broadway run for over a year. That led to a HBO Special and resulted in "Greater Tuna" being produced in theaters across the country.

Giving life to 20 residents of this Texas town where the Lions Club is too liberal and Patsy Cline never dies are two performers who portray men, women, children and even a small dog in a quick change tour de force. The eclectic group that populates the stage are depicted in a delightful satire on life in rural America.

Co-directed by Don and Lisa Bridge, and starring Don Bridge and Tom Dalton, "Greater Tuna" is one of the most often performed small shows, and is generally being played somewhere in the United States, according to the directors. It has even been presented at the White House and has produced two sequels, "A Tuna Christmas" and "Red, White and Tuna."

The play starts

out and ends at the local radio station where two announcers, Thurston and Arlen, are giving the local news. Bridge says while the script pokes fun at small town Southern people, it does have a tender heart toward the residents of Tuna, with some touching moments.

Bridge is no stranger to Sandhills audiences, having been seen recently in "The Buddy Holly Story." His other local credits include "A Christmas Carol," "Big River," "Sylvia" and "Harvey," and he co-directed "Tintypes" with his wife, Lisa, last fall.

Before moving to Moore County, the couple were associated with "The Lost Colony" for 10 years. Before that they lived in Durham where they operated the Melodrama Theatre and the Little Big Theatre for children for seven years.

Tom Dalton, a newcomer to Moore OnStage productions, is on staff at Temple Theatre in Sanford as director of education. However, he wears other hats as well, such as sound design, Web design, and marketing. His career as an actor encompasses a portrayal last summer as Thomas Wolfe in an original play commissioned for the Thomas Wolfe Festival in Asheville and produced by The Occasional Theater Company, and an appearance in Lonesome West as part of The Stone Leaf Festival in Asheville.

At Temple Theatre, he has been seen in "The Diary of Anne Frank" and "See How They Run." In the latter production he also ran the lights, the sound and was the stage manager.

Neither Bridge nor Dalton needed to study up on their Texas twangs for their characterizations for "Greater Tuna." Dalton went to college in Nacogdoches before getting his master's degree in theater at the University of South Carolina, and Don Bridges first met Lisa in Texas -- at a theater where they were working.

In "Greater Tuna," Bridge plays, among other characters, the long-suffering mother of three, the woman's husband, and his own aunt. Aunt Pearl is his favorite part.

"She does not like stray dogs, and regularly puts them out of their misery," he says. "There is also a great scene in the local funeral home when she has a one-sided conversation with a deceased judge, who had been the object of her affections many years ago."

Dalton, on the other hand, says his favorite character is Petey Fiske, the director of the Greater Tuna Humane Society, and Aunt Pearl's nemesis.

"He is the only one who doesn't seem to fit into the mold of Tuna, Texas," says Dalton. "He has a big heart."

In addition, Dalton gets the plum role of the Baptist preacher giving a spirited eulogy for the deceased judge, as well as portraying the richest woman in town, and three offspring who are nieces and a nephew of Aunt Pearl.

"We have a variety of voices and speech patterns, but it takes a lot of energy to portray the 20 characters in such rapid succession," Bridge says. "To keep track of who you are supposed to be when is sometimes dependent on a quick look at the costume you are wearing."

A problem facing co-director Lisa Bridge is "to keep the two guys down off the ceiling. I have to rein in their tendency to play the characters a little more broadly than what is necessary or appropriate. It is awfully easy for an actor playing 10 different parts -- some male, some female, of all different ages -- to give a too-obvious interpretation of the role he is playing at that particular moment.

"The quick-change aspects of the performance also present some interesting challenges," says Lisa Bridge. "Velcro is our lifesaver, and we have two dressers, to help the men turn themselves into whatever character the next scene demands."

Executive producer Cinny Beggs and Sandy Hoy are the two dressers, and Hoy also is in charge of props. Shannon Dalton is handling the stage managing duties, in addition to being in charge of the sound board. Susannah Turner and Yvonne Haskins are the costumers for the show and have had to use untold amounts of imagination and a variety of resources to locate the scores of elements required to dress each character. For example, Dalton needed a woman's size 20 dress and a size 15 in a woman's shoe.

"Greater Tuna" promises to be a good old-fashioned laugh-filled evening.

Performances at the Sunrise Theater in downtown Southern Pines are on March 28, 29, April 3, 4, and 5 at 7:30 p.m. with matinees on Sundays, March 30 and April 6 at 2 p.m.

Billie Ertter and Hair Biz @the Cottage will host a wine reception prior to the performance on Friday, March 28.

Tickets are $18 for adults and $10 for students under 18 and may be reserved with a Mastercard or Visa card by calling 692-7118.

"Please do not call the Sunrise box office for tickets," says a spokesman.

Contact Pinehurst freelance writer Mary Elle Hunter at mhunter104@yahoo.com.