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Tuna Does Vegas - Jaston Williams, Joe Sears
TUNA DOES VEGAS, the hilarious new installment from the legendary "Greater
Tuna" creative team, rolls into the BALBOA THEATRE for a strictly limited
engagement of eight performances in a Broadway/San Diego ~ A Nederlander
Presentation, MAY 5 - 9, 2009. Starring the incomparable duo Joe Sears and
Jaston Williams, TUNA DOES VEGAS re-unites the lovable and eccentric
characters from the 'third smallest town in Texas' as they take a rambling
romp in Sin City. The hilarity begins when oddball-conservative radio host
Arles Struvie announces on air that he and his wife Bertha Bumiller are
heading to Vegas to renew their wedding vows...but everyone in Tuna, Texas
goes along for the ride! Written by Jaston Williams, Joe Sears and Ed
Howard, TUNA DOES VEGAS will feature the favorite characters from the
award-winning "Greater Tuna" productions with some new characters too!
----all staged under the directorial hand of Mr. Howard. Sears and Williams
are the longest original touring cast members around, having been performing
in Tuna since 1982. Meet the lovely Aunt Pearl and Vera Carp, and many of
the other intriguing characters; they will be traveling incognito as the
denizens of Tuna to crack up your audiences.www.greatertuna.com
TUNA DOES VEGAS balances as both an affectionate comment on small-town life
and attitudes as well a hilarious satire of the same. The eclectic band of
citizens that make up this town are portrayed by only Mr. Sears and Mr.
Williams, making this send-up on life in rural America even more delightful
as they depict all of the inhabitants of Tuna -- men, women, as well as
Vegas showgirls, Elvis impersonators and more! TUNA DOES VEGAS will feature
scenery designed by Christopher McCollum, costumes designed by Linda Fisher,
lighting designed by David Nancarrow and sound designed by Ken Huncovsky.
JOE SEARS is co-author and co-star of Tuna Does Vegas, as well as co-author
and co-star of the wildly successful Tuna Trilogy. Mr. Sears has been
touring extensively with the Tuna Trilogy productions for the past 22 years.
His sixth tour of A Tuna Christmas included his Broadway debut for which he
received a 1995 Tony Award-nomination for Best Actor in a Play. The first
record-breaking year included a command performance for President and Mrs.
George Bush at the White House. Mr. Sears' Washington, DC engagement of A
Tuna Christmas earned him his third nomination for the Helen Hayes Award for
Best Actor. A Tuna Christmas was also nominated for Best Play. Mr. Sears
also received nominations in 1984 and 1988 for the Helen Hayes Award for his
performance in Greater Tuna. He originated these roles off-Broadway when
Greater Tuna premiered in 1982 and has performed in the highly successful
national tours and co-wrote and starred in the Embassy Television/ Norman
Lear Special of Greater Tuna which aired on HBO. Mr. Sears has been acting
professionally for the past 30 years. His credits include a season with
Theatre Works USA in New York, summer stock, outdoor drama, television and
eight Shakespeare plays. Among his many roles are Bottom and Thisby in two
separate productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream, Falstaff in The Merry
Wives of Windsor, and the Doctor in Three Sisters. He appeared with Fannie
Flagg (Fried Green Tomatoes) in The Foreigner. Later he would play Fannie's
role and attributes his success to her. Mr. Sears has appeared on the David
Letterman and Merv Griffin shows and received a Los Angeles Dramalogue Award
for his writing and performance of Greater Tuna. Mr. Sears received the 1993
Los Angeles Dramalogue Award for Best Actor in A Tuna Christmas. He
performed in the musical comedy The Fantasticks at Ford's Theatre in
Washington, DC and at Casa Maņana Theatre in Fort Worth. He made his movie
debut with Tommy Lee Jones and Matt Damon in The Good Old Boys. Mr. Sears is
the playwright for the Cherokee Nation's outdoor drama Trail of Tears, which
runs during the summer months in Tahlequah, OK. Mr. Sears was awarded the
"Theatre LA Ovation Award" for Best Actor 1999. He recently completed the
Libretto (along with Mr. Williams) for the new Comic Opera Ochelata's
Wedding, commissioned by the OK Mozart International Music Festival. He and
Austin-Nashville songwriter Kimmie Rhodes are now working on a new musical
entitled Doin' God's Chores, an Austin workshop production. Mr. Sears also
owns and operates Cody Stage, a summer stock theatre company in Cody, WY.
JASTON WILLIAMS is co-author, co-star and producer of Tuna Does Vegas and is
the co-author and co-star of the Tuna Trilogy. Mr. Williams has been
creating the citizens of Tuna for the last 22 years. The performances have
played on and off Broadway at the Kennedy Center, the Edinburgh
International Arts Festival, the Spoleto Festival U.S.A. and all over
America. He has received Washington D.C.'s Helen Hayes Award nominations for
A Tuna Christmas and Red, White and Tuna as well as the San Francisco Bay
Area Critics Award for Greater Tuna. Mr. Williams received the L.A.
Dramalogue Award for both Greater Tuna and A Tuna Christmas. A Tuna
Christmas was published in "Best Plays of 1995." For several years, Mr.
Williams toured in Larry Shue's The Foreigner, for which he received a Helen
Hayes Award nomination for Best Actor. He performed in The Fantasticks at
Washington DC's Ford's Theatre and directed the musical Bad Girls Upset By
The Truth at Atlanta's Alliance Theatre. Mr. Williams received the Texas
Governors Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Arts by a Native Texan
and has performed at the White House on three occasions. In his hometown of
Austin, Texas, Mr. Williams has appeared at the State Theatre in Eugene
Ionesco's The Chairs and at Zachary Scott Theatre in Jay Presson Allen's
Tru, for which he received the Austin Critics Table Award for Best Actor in
a drama. He most recently appeared at Zachary Scott Theatre in The Laramie
Project. His play, Romeo and Thorazine, work-shopped at Zachary Scott
Theatre in November 2001. He work-shopped his autobiographical one-man show
I'm Not Lying to critical acclaim at Austin's State Theatre of Texas and
returned it there for a full production in February of 2004 as well as a
benefit performance at Washington D.C.'s Kennedy Center. His latest
autobiographical play Cowboy Noises premiered in Austin in February 2008 to
critical acclaim.
Click here to visit their website
Click on any of these small pictures to see a larger version of it.
JOE SEARS is co-author and co-star of Tuna Does Vegas, as well as co-author and co-star of the wildly successful Tuna Trilogy. Mr. Sears has been touring extensively with the Tuna Trilogy productions for the past 22 years. His sixth tour of A Tuna Christmas included his Broadway debut for which he received a 1995 Tony Award-nomination for Best Actor in a Play. The first record-breaking year included a command performance for President and Mrs. George Bush at the White House. Mr. Sears' Washington, DC engagement of A Tuna Christmas earned him his third nomination for the Helen Hayes Award for Best Actor. A Tuna Christmas was also nominated for Best Play. Mr. Sears also received nominations in 1984 and 1988 for the Helen Hayes Award for his performance in Greater Tuna. He originated these roles off-Broadway when Greater Tuna premiered in 1982 and has performed in the highly successful national tours and co-wrote and starred in the Embassy Television/ Norman Lear Special of Greater Tuna which aired on HBO. Mr. Sears has been acting professionally for the past 30 years. His credits include a season with Theatre Works USA in New York, summer stock, outdoor drama, television and eight Shakespeare plays. Among his many roles are Bottom and Thisby in two separate productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream, Falstaff in The Merry Wives of Windsor, and the Doctor in Three Sisters. He appeared with Fannie Flagg (Fried Green Tomatoes) in The Foreigner. Later he would play Fannie's role and attributes his success to her. Mr. Sears has appeared on the David Letterman and Merv Griffin shows and received a Los Angeles Dramalogue Award for his writing and performance of Greater Tuna. Mr. Sears received the 1993 Los Angeles Dramalogue Award for Best Actor in A Tuna Christmas. He performed in the musical comedy The Fantasticks at Ford's Theatre in Washington, DC and at Casa Maņana Theatre in Fort Worth. He made his movie debut with Tommy Lee Jones and Matt Damon in The Good Old Boys. Mr. Sears is the playwright for the Cherokee Nation's outdoor drama Trail of Tears, which runs during the summer months in Tahlequah, OK. Mr. Sears was awarded the "Theatre LA Ovation Award" for Best Actor 1999. He recently completed the Libretto (along with Mr. Williams) for the new Comic Opera Ochelata's Wedding, commissioned by the OK Mozart International Music Festival. He and Austin-Nashville songwriter Kimmie Rhodes are now working on a new musical entitled Doin' God's Chores, an Austin workshop production. Mr. Sears also owns and operates Cody Stage, a summer stock theatre company in Cody, WY.
JASTON WILLIAMS is co-author, co-star and producer of Tuna Does Vegas and is the co-author and co-star of the Tuna Trilogy. Mr. Williams has been creating the citizens of Tuna for the last 22 years. The performances have played on and off Broadway at the Kennedy Center, the Edinburgh International Arts Festival, the Spoleto Festival U.S.A. and all over America. He has received Washington D.C.'s Helen Hayes Award nominations for A Tuna Christmas and Red, White and Tuna as well as the San Francisco Bay Area Critics Award for Greater Tuna. Mr. Williams received the L.A. Dramalogue Award for both Greater Tuna and A Tuna Christmas. A Tuna Christmas was published in "Best Plays of 1995." For several years, Mr. Williams toured in Larry Shue's The Foreigner, for which he received a Helen Hayes Award nomination for Best Actor. He performed in The Fantasticks at Washington DC's Ford's Theatre and directed the musical Bad Girls Upset By The Truth at Atlanta's Alliance Theatre. Mr. Williams received the Texas Governors Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Arts by a Native Texan and has performed at the White House on three occasions. In his hometown of Austin, Texas, Mr. Williams has appeared at the State Theatre in Eugene Ionesco's The Chairs and at Zachary Scott Theatre in Jay Presson Allen's Tru, for which he received the Austin Critics Table Award for Best Actor in a drama. He most recently appeared at Zachary Scott Theatre in The Laramie Project. His play, Romeo and Thorazine, work-shopped at Zachary Scott Theatre in November 2001. He work-shopped his autobiographical one-man show I'm Not Lying to critical acclaim at Austin's State Theatre of Texas and returned it there for a full production in February of 2004 as well as a benefit performance at Washington D.C.'s Kennedy Center. His latest autobiographical play Cowboy Noises premiered in Austin in February 2008 to critical acclaim.
Click here to visit their website
Click on any of these small pictures to see a larger version of it.
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