MOUNT CARROLL, IL - Timber Lake Playhouse continues its summer season with the hilarious theatre phenomenon Greater Tuna. Long before Jeff Foxworthy, Larry the Cable Guy and the Blue Collar Comedy tours captured the nation's funnybones, Greater Tuna was selling out theatres with its characters who populate the town of Tuna, Texas. In just under two hours, two actors play twenty residents of one town on the day they're mourning the corrupt Judge of Tuna--where the Lions Club is too liberal and Patsy Cline never dies.
TLP favorites Cody Jolly (who just completed a run as Captain Hook in Peter Pan) and Matt Webb (who starred opposite Jolly in Young Frankenstein and Spamalot) play a pair of clueless radio disk jockeys, a questionable sheriff, a used-weapons store owner, a religious "scholar" who studies "segregation in the scriptures," an animal rights advocate, an undertaker, Baptist "smut snatchers," a cliché-laden preacher, all five members of the Bumiller family and more. Chicago director Stephen Schellhardt stages the antics of the fictional third smallest town in Texas.
Joe Sears, Jaston Williams and Ed Howard wrote the comedy in 1981. Sears and Williams also starred in the original production. The two met while working in Texas and decided to put together a show based mostly on real-life people they'd known living in Oklahoma and San Antonio. Since 1981, they've written three additional Tuna plays that have been performed around the world at such wide-ranging venues as dinner theatres, Shakespeare festivals and the White House. The show was also recorded and presented as an HBO special event.
Director Schellhardt says of the play, "For me, what makes Greater Tuna unique is that all of the town's residents - male, female, young and old - are played by two exceptional performers. This is no small feat. The skills of Cody Jolly and Matt Webb surpassed all my expectations. These remarkable, versatile actors have gone to great lengths to breathe life into all the eccentric citizens of Tuna, Texas. It's been truly astounding to watch them work."
Great Tuna opens Thursday, July 16 at 7:30 p.m. Performances continue Friday, July 17 at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, July 18 at 2:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, July 19 at 2:00 p.m.; Tuesday, July 21 at 7:30 p.m.; Wednesday, July 22 at 2:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.; Thursday, July 23 at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, July 24 at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday, July 25 at 7:30 p.m.
Opening July 30th, TLP will present the new musical Big Fish, based on the Tim Burton film and the novel of the same name. Karl Hamilton returns to TLP to star as Edward Bloom, a teller of very tall tales that come to life on stage. The show has been called "Remarkable and essential for everyone who loves musicals," "breathtaking from start to finish," and "a dream musical." Artistic Director James Beaudry directs and choreographs the romantic comedy.
Tickets for all TLP mainstage show are $25 with discounts for seniors, active duty military and students. For reservations, call the box office at 815-244-2035 or visit www.timberlakeplayhouse.org. TLP is located at 8215 Black Oak Road in rural Mount Carroll, Illinois.
This program is partially sponsored by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.
