Waco Tribune-Herald
Performance: Waco, Texas
14-May-99

There's a feeling of closure for longtime tuna fans when Jaston Williams and Joe Sears make their last costume change of the evening in Red, White and Tuna.

Unlike the scores of lightning-fast changes made as the two Austin actors portray the characters who live in or pass through Tuna -- a characteristic that has flavored all three Tuna plays -- this one's in plain sight of the audience. Backs to the audience, with costumes hanging from a wall peg, Williams and Sears transform themselves into Arles Struvie and Bertha Bumiller as they originally did in the early days, before Greater Tuna's success enabled them the luxury of dressers.

It's one of several sweet, reflective moments that pass by in Red, White and Tuna's final scenes as the two actors bring closure to several of their favorite characters: cantankerous Aunt Pearl Burras (Sears), juvenile-delinquent-turned-trendy-artist Stanley Bumiller (Williams), prickly used weapons dealer Didi Snavely (Williams), small-town zealot Vera Carp (Williams), worrying mom Bertha (Sears) and animal lover Petey Fisk (Williams).

The sweetness is appropriate, given the affection Williams, Sears and their audiences have shown for the residents of Tuna, "Texas's third smallest town," over the last 17 years.

What delighted a fell Hippodrome house on opening night Wednesday, however, was the two hours of laughs that led up to Red's theatrical salutation, a tribute not only to the wickedly witty portrayal of small town characters, but Williams and Sears' seamless flair in bringing those characters to life.

Just as the Christmas holidays from the backdrop to A Tuna Christmas, a Tuna High School class reunion near the Fourth of July serves as the stacking pole for Red's action. Aunt Pearl, Vera and Didi are up for Reunion Queen; Stanley has returned home as an acclaimed Santa Fe artist whose specialty is spray-painting stuffed road kill; Arles and Bertha are preparing for their wedding the next day; Didi's counting down to the 2,000th day since her husband R.R. disappeared, abducted, some say, by aliens; and, as Act II begins, two new characters, Tuna flowerchildren Star Birdfeather (Sears) and Amber Windchime (Williams), tofu-fueled and with auras intact, show up to visit old classmates.

Life in Tuna never proceeds in a straight line, however, and before the comedy ends, R.R. returns, Aunt Pearl's potato salad shows the effects of solar heating, a spat over honeymoon plans (Arles favors a rattlesnake roundup; Bertha the Passion Play at Eureka Springs, Ark., with "an Aggie as Jesus") has put the wedding on hold and Petey discovers an animal he doesn't like.

It's a joy to watch Williams and Sears at work, shaping their characters through a closetful of twangs, mumbles and whimpers; an arsenal as potent as the couture they run through (although it's hard to imagine Vera without her cat's-eye glasses, Bertha without her big hair or polyester pantsuit).

Their timing, honed to a fine edge, sets up a constant stream of jokes, insults and on-liners that fuel the play's comic drive. Others may mimic their work in other Tuna tours, but Wednesday night's show demonstrated why the original cast is hard to beat.

The two actors' fine work on stage is mirrored offstage, most notably a sound design that locates sonic effects such as whooshing bottle rockets on specific sides of the theater.

The heart of Tuna remains a human one, however, and so does the response it triggers: warm knowing laughter.