Christmas Cheer Abounds with “A Tuna Christmas” at the Jewel Box Theatre
Brian C. Stockton as Helen Bedd (left) and Morgan Brown as Inita Goodwin in “A Tuna Christmas” Photo courtesy of Derek Kenney.
Tuna, Texas is a typical small community noted for being the third smallest town in the state. Tuna is filled with typical and stereotypical Texans in the alternate universe created by Ed Howard, Jaston Williams and Joe Sears. The town of Tuna first came into being in 1981 with the play “Greater Tuna” starring the authors Jaston Williams and Joe Sears. Last summer “Greater Tuna” was an undeniable success for Jewel Box Theatre and starred Morgan Brown and Brian C. Stockton. So, it was a natural choice for Jewel Box to present “A Tuna Christmas” for the 2021 Holidays starring the same two award winning actors.
Any small town seems to have a very large percentage of colorful characters per capita. Tuna has twenty-two unique personalities among the population providing an interesting and distinctive humor in the town. Brown and Stockton play all of them and they do so with a natural and realistic presentation that allows us to laugh with them, at them and for them. As the town prepares for Christmas those characters that entertained us so in “Greater Tuna” come to life again as they ready another holiday celebration with all the ups and downs that come with Christmas cheer.
Morgan Brown as Bertha Bumiller in “A Tuna Christmas” Photo courtesy of Derek Kenney.
Among the eleven characters played by Morgan Brown are Thurston Wheelis, Bertha Bumiller, Aunt Pearl Burras and R. R. Snavely. Brian C. Stockton also plays eleven different characters including Jody and Charlene Bumiller, Stanley Bumiller and Vera Carp. All twenty-two characters are imagined with distinct differences making the action easy to follow as well as fun to watch. Creating significant differences with minimal costume changes and no make-up, using only body attitudes and facial expressions along-side the costume and wig changes is a challenge that Brown and Stockton meet. “A Tuna Christmas” is full of wonderful comedic moments, and the essence of that comedy is tragedy. When that tragedy comes from the artificial hair flip of a flippant teen-age girl, or the embittered expression of a lonely neglected housewife with a cad for a husband, it is apparent that Brown and Stockton have ensnared us completely in their characters.
Brian C. Stockton as Charlene Bumiller in
“A Tena Christmas” Photo courtesy of Derek Kenney
The actors meet these challenges with the commitment of dedicated dressers to help them in these quick and complicated costume changes. These dressers are Amber Carr, Lauren Leppke, Hayden Turner, Rebekah Brown and Tyler Dunkleberger who also worked as a stagehand. They are well organized under the expert stage management of Teresa Scherer-Kobyluk. Putting this all together is Adrienne Pierce, Director. Pierce is making her debut as a director for “A Tuna Christmas” and is off to a good start. She leads the cast and crew in an intelligent and hilarious adventure through the versatile difficulties encountered in small town life. Doobie Potter, a veteran of Oklahoma City theatre who has directed many of the finest shows at Carpenter Square Theatre and Jewel Box is also on board as Assistant Director. Pierce takes full advantage of the wonderful opportunity to work under the guidance of such a talented director. Cadence Cloud built a versatile set while Potter put together the props and the many varied costumes. The lighting design is from Isaiah J. Williams and the sound is from Spencer Hoskins.
“A Tuna Christmas” can be seen at the new Jewel Box location (northeast of the parking lot for the original First Christian Church location) at 321 NW 36th St. in Oklahoma City. For information and tickets visit www.JewelBoxOKC.com or call the box office Tuesday through Friday afternoon at 405-521-1786. “A Tuna Christmas” runs from December 9 through 23, 2021 and the curtain is 8:00 pm Thursday through Saturday with a 2:30 pm Sunday matinee.
Cast and crew of “A Tuna Christmas” From left, seated, Stage Manager, Teresa Scherer Kobyluk, Adrienne Pierce, Director, Morgan Brown as Inita Goodwin and Brian C. Stockton as Helen Bedd. From left, standing, Spencer Hoskins, Lauren Leppke, Tyler Dunkleberger and Amber Carr, dressers. Photo courtesy of Derek Kenney, Jewel Box Theatre.