Greater Tuna
Encyclopedia
A Tuna Christmas
A Tuna Christmas is the second in a series of comedic plays , each set the fictional town of Tuna, Texas, the "third-smallest" town in the state. The trilogy was written by Jaston Williams, Joe Sears, and Ed Howard...
, Red, White and Tuna
Red, White and Tuna
Red, White and Tuna is the third in a series of comedic plays , each set the fictional town of Tuna, Texas; the "third-smallest" town in the state. The plays were written by Jaston Williams, Joe Sears, and Ed Howard...
and Tuna Does Vegas), each set in the fictional town of Tuna, Texas, the "third-smallest" town in the state. The series was written by Jaston Williams, Joe Sears, and Ed Howard. The plays are at once an affectionate comment on small-town, Southern life and attitudes but also a withering satire of same. Of the four plays, Greater Tuna is the darkest in tone.
The plays are notable in that two men play the entire cast of over twenty eccentric characters of both genders and various ages. Greater Tuna debuted in Austin, Texas
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
, in the fall of 1981, and had its off-Broadway
Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...
premiere in 1982. St. Vincent Summer Theatre
St. Vincent Summer Theatre
St. Vincent Summer Theatre is a professional theatre company that is associated with Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1969 by Father Tom Devereux, O.S.B., the company was originally composed entirely of St. Vincent students putting together a six-show season. The company...
produced the play in 2000, and No Name Players
No Name Players
No Name Players is a professional theatre company based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Founded in 2000 by Don DiGiulio at Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia, the theatre company began as a creative outlet for DiGiulio and his classmates to hone their craft outside of college-related...
produced it in 2002.
Williams and Sears regularly tour the country to perform all four plays, with Howard directing.
An HBO Special of Greater Tuna, produced by Embassy Television and Norman Lear
Norman Lear
Norman Milton Lear is an American television writer and producer who produced such 1970s sitcoms as All in the Family, Sanford and Son, One Day at a Time, The Jeffersons, Good Times and Maude...
, was aired in 1984. Due to modern videography techniques, the various characters portrayed by Sears and Williams were able to be seen en masse for the first time. However, due to copyright conflicts between Embassy Television and the original copyright claimants (Joe Sears, Jaston Williams & Ed Howard) the broadcast was limited to only 3 months in 1984. It has never been broadcast again. Rare VHS taped copies have been sold on eBay in excess of $100.
Sears and Williams did command performances of both Greater Tuna and A Tuna Christmas at the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
for President George H. W. Bush
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...
and Barbara Bush.
According to the play's official web site, by 1985, Greater Tuna was the most-produced play in the United States. A videotaped performance of Greater Tuna (but not the Lear HBO production) is available on VHS
VHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
and DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
.
Partial cast of characters
Performed by Williams- Charlene Bumiller - Daughter of Hank and Bertha Bumiller, and sister to Stanley and Jody
- Jody Bumiller - Youngest child of Bertha Bumiller, followed constantly by "eight to ten dogs"
- Stanley Bumiller - fresh from reform schoolReform schoolA reform school in the United States was a term used to define, often somewhat euphemistically, what was often essentially a penal institution for boys, generally teenagers.-History:...
; twin to Charlene, and he later talks to the dead judge gloating how he killed him - Vera Carp - Town snob and vice president of the Smut-Snatchers of the New Order
- Petey Fisk - Employee of the Greater Tuna Humane SocietyHumane SocietyA humane society may be a group that aims to stop human or animal suffering due to cruelty or other reasons, although in many countries, it is now used mostly for societies for the prevention of cruelty to animals...
- Didi Snavely - Owner of Didi's Used Weapons ("If we can't kill it, it's immortal")
- Arles Struvie - A disc jockeyDisc jockeyA disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
at radio station OKKK - Chad Hartford- A reporter from Houston who comes to interview Bertha
- Phinas Blye- A politician from Indiana who runs for City Council every election
- Harold Dean Lattimer- OKKK's weatherman
- Helen Bedd - waitress, Tastee Kreme Diner
Performed by Sears
- Bertha Bumiller - wife of Hank and mother to Jody, Stanley, and Charlene; member of the Smut Snatchers of the New Order
- Hank Bumiller- Husband of Bertha
- Pearl Burras - Aunt to Bertha, who is addicted to killing dogs (in the play, called canicidal thumbitus)
- Leonard Childers - Station Manager of OKKK
- Sheriff Givens- Believes in old-fashioned jails
- Elmer Watkins, head of the local chapter of the KKK, dedicated to making the town safe "for the right kind of people"
- Yippy the dog- Pet of the month for five weeks in a row, yips a lot, and no one wants to adopt him
- R.R. Snavely - UFOlogist, town drunk, and husband to Didi
- The Reverend Spikes, president of the Smut Snatchers of the New Order
- Thurston Wheelis - A disc jockeyDisc jockeyA disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
at radio station OKKK - Inita Goodwin - cook, Tastee Kreme Diner
Honors for Greater Tuna
Joe Sears- Following a December 1994 run of A Tuna Christmas on Broadway, Joe Sears received a 1995 Tony Award nomination for best actor in a play.
- Nominee, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Touring Production, Helen Hayes Awards Non-Resident ActingHelen Hayes Awards Non-Resident ActingThese Helen Hayes Awards are given for outstanding acting in non-resident or touring productions that are staged in the Washington, DC metropolitan area.-Outstanding Lead Actor in a Touring Production:...
, 1985, 1987
Jaston Williams
- San Francisco Bay Area Critics Award
- L.A. Dramalogue Award