Chicken Fried Tuna

October 15, 2014
It has been a long time since my last post.  And that has been intentional.  I stand before you a coward.  Six months have passed, and I still am gathering courage to tell the truth.  I have been afraid to offend...even people that don't really care about what I write or say... and I have been loathe to hurt feelings.  We in the arts have such delicate egos at the best of times.

But it's time to saddle up and ride the wild keyboard.  Last weekend saw the close of a six show performance of Greater Tuna at the Texas Theatre in beautiful downtown Palestine, Texas.  The show was decently attended and well received.  I was happily one of the two actors on stage in this production.  The other was Gerry Goodwin.  I have wanted to do this show...with Gerry...for a while now.  We are a Mutt and Jeff pair that fit the casting to a sweet tea.  I really wanted to do this show to see if I still could.  It's a very challenging show full of rapidly shifting characterizations and costumes.  Voices, postures, facial tics, movements all change even more rapidly than the clothes.  Gerry was amazing.  His comic timing... flawless.  His pathos... heart-wrenching. He is always a pleasure to work with.  I struggled, as we older actors sometimes do, but I feel in the end I did credit to the material, the theatre, and my costar.

Aunt Pearl and Vera Carp of Greater Tuna

When I say the show was well received, I was giving faint praise.  Each performance saw someone gasping for breath from laughter.  We had a woman nearly fall out of her chair...literally.  A man complained that his ribs hurt.  One woman, as she exited the theater paid us what I consider the creme of compliments:  She told us that she remembered seeing us perform the show several years ago in Austin and thought we were still at least as funny now.  She thought we were the originators of the award winning show!  My hat size expanded exponentially.

None of this would have been possible without several heroic people serving in the shadows.  Of course Carol Moore, our talented director is first on the list.  Her vision and drive and passion made the show a reality.  But I must really applaud our "Tuna Helpers"- the backstage ladies who dressed us in seconds, kept our costumes and changes straight, and never sent us out as the wrong character.  And don't forget lights and sound.  And the set design and construction.  Oh the armies of Thespis thundered along.

Anyway, I'm back.  I'll be writing more now that I have regained at least a modicum of spine.  See you on the boards.