“Greater Tuna,” November 18 through 20

Friday, November 18, through Sunday, November 20

Scott Community College's Black Box Theatre, 500 Belmont Road, Bettendorf IA

Lauded by Variety magazine as "howlingly funny" and by DC Theatre Scene as "a beloved show well regarded enough to have merited three sequels," the slapstick farce Greater Tuna enjoys a November 18 through 20 run at Scott Community College's Black Box Theatre, this beloved comedy by Jaston Williams, Joe Sears, and Ed Howard a popular hit since its debut in Austin, Texas in 1981 and its off-Broadway premiere in 1982.

In Greater Tuna, audiences are invited to take a trip down south to Texas' third smallest town: the quaint little burg of Tuna. With the play are at once an affectionate comment on small-town, Southern life and attitudes and also a withering satire of same, audiences are invited to meet more than 20 of the local eccentrics. Chief among them are Thurston and Arles, whose daily radio show finds them discussing such topics as the winner of the American Heritage Essay Contest (for a piece titled "Human Rights – Why Bother?"), the local auditions for My Fair Lady (which i to be set in Polynesia so they can make use of last year's South Pacific set), and the scandalous death of Judge Buckner. The cast of characters continues to expand as we meet "upstanding" citizens of Tuna including the puppy-poisoning Pearl, used-gun store owner Didi, and R.R., an old coot who regularly sees UFOs. Fast-faced and memorably silly, Greater Tuna was such an immediate hit that it led to three stage followups: Red, White, & Tuna, Tuna Does Vegas, and the Tony Award-nominated A Tuna Christmas.

Directing Greater Tuna for Scott Community College is SCC theatre instructor Kevin Babbitt, whose previous works for his department have included Fresh Brewed: Tales from the Coffee Bar, Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You, and The Laramie Project, and whose on-stage area-theatre appearances include roles in the Richmond Hill Barn Theatre's Leaving Iowa, Outside Mullingar, and The 39 Steps as well as the Playcrafters Barn Theatre's On Golden Pond and Tuesdays with Morrie. And performing the show's eccentric residents of Tuna is a gifted ensemble of 11 SCC student actors: Aria Defoe, Eli Dezarn, Ashley Durham, Maesi Geigle, Chenoa Henderson, Olivia Hoft, Paxton Loquist, Perin McGrath, Rebekah Pace, Jay Ruefer, and Alexander Shoemaker.

Greater Tuna will be presented in Scott Community College's Black Box Theatre (through door #3 and down the stairs) November 18 through 20, with performances on Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2:30 p.m. Admission is free, and more information is available by calling (563)441-4339 or e-mailing director Kevin Babbitt at KDBabbitt@eicc.edu.