The Daily News
Performance: Galveston, Texas
05-Apr-98

For nearly two decades, the goings on of Vera Carp, Didi Snavely, Aunt Pearl Burras, Bertha Bumiller and the other locals of the "third smallest town in Texas" have kept audiences across the country rolled over with laughter.

And now, Tuna creators Joe Sears and Jaston Williams return to Galveston to debut the third piece of the Tuna trilogy -- "Red, White and Tuna."

"When we got the chance to open it here, we jumped at it," Williams said. "To spend three weeks in Galveston, including rehearsal, is wonderful. We're really happy about it."

When "Red, White and Tuna" premieres Tuesday night at The Grand 1894 Opera House, audiences can expect to see the same cast of characters who have told the tales of Tuna since 1981.They'll see the same humor that has made Tuna, Texas -- found somewhere in West Texas "be- tween San Angelo and hell" -- the town where "the Lions Club is too liberal and Patsy Cline never dies."

But, also in store for Tuna fans -- new and old alike -- are two new characters created by Williams and Sears. Amber Wind-Chime and Star Bird-Feather return home for the Tuna High School reunion, which is set on the Fourth of July. The two left Tuna to live "the hippie life in Lubbock."

The town is so small, they have a reunion every 10 years and all classes of Tuna High are invited, Sears said.

And without revealing too much of the surprises in store for audiences, Sears said folks can expect news from Charlene who's gotten married, a possible wedding for Bertha, a potato salad that's gone bad and a fierce race for Homecoming Queen.

"I think it's going to be a lot of fun," Sears said. "I think 'Red, White and Tuna' is as funny as the first two. I think as long as we keep improving our product, people will still come."

Sears and Williams first met about 25 years ago performing Shakespeare in San Antonio. Williams was part of a repertory theater doing a production of "A Midsummer's Night Dream." Sears had just moved to Texas from a stint in New York City where he worked with a children's theater.

After developing a close friendship, they had the idea for Tuna.

They incorporated scenes from their childhood days growing up in small towns.Sears grew up in Bartlesville, Okla., and Williams grew up in West Texas.

"I lived in and spent a lot of time in small towns," Williams said. "I have a guarded affection for them."

The characters are not portrayals of exact individuals they have known, but instead are compilations of the people they remember and people they have met through the years.

And it all comes together as a look at life in general. "It was the early '80s and we were having a go at the moral majority," Williams said. "It quickly developed into much more than satire."

Sears described the beginnings of Tuna as a political cartoon. "I think the caricatures stem from that very first show we wrote where we pictured ourselves a moving political cartoon," Sears said. "I still picture what we do as a political cartoon."

But just because he describes their satirical humor as a political cartoon, Sears said they take their work seriously and consider it serious theater.

After all, the Tuna shows -- "Greater Tuna" and "A Tuna Christmas" -- have been performed in theaters around the country, year after year since their premieres. The shows made it to Broadway and Sears received a Tony nomination for his work in "A Tuna Christmas."

In the early days of Tuna, Williams and Sears thought it was a good play, and that it would have a good run.

"I did not understand the scope of it," Williams said.

He said he always thought that the two could have fun with Tuna, but then would have to move on to something else to make it to New York, the crown jewel of American theater.

"I was so narrow in my judgment of that," Williams said. "People have loved this show from coast to coast. I'm astounded by it."

The success of the Tuna productions can be attributed to the close working relationship of Williams and Sears.

"We definitely keep each other challenged in a positive way," Sears said.

And the play's success has led to many challenges and perks for the show's stars. "You feel a great responsibility to maintain the quality," Williams said. "You want it to be not as good as the one before, but better."

Sears said the Tuna audiences have challenged the actors to improve with each production. If the shows did not get better, people would not return, he said.

And return they have. Sears recalled two young boys whose grandmother is a docent at The Grand 1894 Opera House.

The two have literally grown up with Tuna characters. With each run in Galveston, Sears and Williams can spot the two boys in at least one audience. That familiarity is what encourages the two actors to return to Galveston so often.

"They get audiences who come from all over this area who adore them," said Maureen Patton, executive director of The Grand. "We sort of help make them feel comfortable. Consequently, they do a superb performance. It feels like home to them and we love that."

Having the world premiere at The Grand also is a feather in Galveston's cap, Patton said.

"Here is Galveston with a world premiere of a brand new play," she said. "We're awfully glad that they claim us as being part of the family. It's an impor- tant thing for our community."

Through the years, the Tuna shows have achieved a great deal of success. With that success comes the luxury of being able to pick where you live and where you perform, Sears said.

The two live in Austin, but their agent is in New York.

When they received an offer to move to Los Angeles and write for television, they turned it down because it meant they would have to leave Texas, Sears said.

"We could live in LA. or New York," Sears said. That's part of the success of Tuna, you can live wherever you want."

They can take their play almost anywhere they want. And they do.

From Galveston, Tuna will begin a tour of Texas that ends in the summer. From there, it is a short break and then a na- tional tour next year. The team already is booked at Washington, D.C.'s Kennedy Center for a series of performances next year.

Tuna can go anywhere, and audiences love it, Sears said.

"It's not just limited to a so- phisticated ... crowd," Sears said. 'Tuna is for everybody."