Featured Ojai Event
Theater: "Greater Tuna"
February 2, 2007 8:00pm-10:00pm
A trio of chameleon-like actors is turning the Ojai Art Center Theater into radio station OKKK for the opening of "Greater Tuna" on Friday, Feb. 2.
This comedy is seasoned with satire and wit. It started out 20 years ago as a party skit based on a political cartoon when its authors -- Jaston Williams, Joe Sears, and Ed Howard -- portrayed numerous small town characters to the utter joy of their friends, who insisted they make it into a play.
They did, setting it in the third-smallest town in the big state of Texas, and it took on a life of its own, playing off-Broadway, at the White House, overseas and on HBO.
Now it's come around to Ojai ACT's stage, starring Michael Nader of "All My Children" and "Dynasty" fame, pro commercial actor Dave Matzke and a local favorite and veteran comic actor, Doug Friedlander. Laura Schreiner directs and Gai Jones is the producer.
You'll meet about two dozen denizens of the Greater Tuna area, thanks to the actors who play them all at the radio station, quickly switching costumes, accents, gender and gestures into folks you surely know.
"We are delighted by the eccentric world they create," said Director Schreiner. "Though Ojai may not quite be the rural America of Tuna, we can relate to a community where 'your business is everybody's business'. Small town living is a unique life, shared by millions across America. There is delicious humor in watching a small town run by small minds."
"Greater Tuna" was the most produced play in the U.S. for a while and popular demand produced a sequel, "Greater Tuna Christmas" and a "final installment" now touring nationally, "Red, White and Tuna." It has its own website, www.greatertuna.com, and fan links galore.
One of the recent postings in the Tuna Times has a poem that gives you an idea; an excerpt: "For Paris has no bar-b-que and Rome just can't compare, to a lovely Texas sunset when the dust is in the air." It’s a great bit of fun to start off Ojai ACT’s 2007 season.
"Greater Tuna" runs Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 7 p.m. from Feb. 2 through March 3 at Ojai ACT, 113 S. Montgomery St.
