Greater Tuna

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Greater Tuna is the first in a trilogy of comedic plays (followed by A Tuna Christmas and Red, White and Tuna), 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. The plays are at once an affectionate comment on small-town, Southern life and attitudes but also a withering satire of same. Of the three 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 in Fall 1981, and had its off-Broadway premiere in 1982.

Williams and Sears regularly tour the country to perform all three plays, with Howard directing. An HBO Special of Greater Tuna, produced by Embassy Television and Norman Lear, was aired in the early 1980s. Due to modern videography techniques, the various different characters portrayed by Sears and Williams were able to be seen en masse for the first time.

Sears and Williams did command performances of both Greater Tuna and A Tuna Christmas at the White House for President George H.W. Bush 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 filmed performance of Greater Tuna (but not the Lear HBO production) is available on VHS and DVD.

1 Cast of Characters (Partial)
2 Plot
3 Honors for Greater Tuna
4 External links

[edit] Cast of Characters (Partial)

Performed by Williams:

Casey fox - Daughter of William shea and brother to Stanley and Jody
Jody Bumiller - Youngest child of Bertha Bumiller, followed constantly by "eight to ten dogs"
Stanley Bumiller - fresh from reform school; twin to Charlene
Vera Carp - Town snob and vice president of the Smut-Snatchers of the New Order
Petey Fisk - Employee of the Greater Tuna Humane Society
Didi Snavely - Owner of Didi's Used Weapons ("If we can't kill it, it's immortal")
Arles Struvie - A disc jockey at radio station OKKK

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
Pearl Burras - Aunt to Bertha, who accidentally poisons her husband's $2000 birddog with a "bitter pill"
Leonard Childers - Station Manager of OKKK
Sheriff Givens
R.R. Snavely - UFOlogist and husband to Didi
The Reverend Spikes, president of the Sumt Snatchers of the New Order
Thurston Wheelis - A disc jockey at radio station OKKK

[edit] Plot

The plot of Greater Tuna centers on the death of Judge Roscoe Buckner, of an apparent stroke, while wearing a 1950 turquoise Dale Evans one-piece swimsuit with "lots of cowgal fringe." Among the subplots are Stanley Bumiller's attempts walk the straight and narrow after a stint in reform school, Bertha Bumiller's trying to hold her family together, and the Smut Snatchers of the New Order's attempts to censor books at the local library (including the dictionary).