Dallas Voice (Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 26, No. 39, Ed. 1 Friday, February 12, 2010 Page: 33 of 56
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Sure
bet
Tuna Does Vegas,' the
'fourth play in the Tuna
Trilogy,' goes for broke
ARNOLD WAYNE JONES i Life+Style Editor
jones@dallasvoice.com
After nearly 30 years in four plays ex-
ploring the quirks of the residents of
Tuna, Texas — the Lone Star State's
mythical third-smallest town — play-
wrights and performers Jaston Williams
and Joe Sears have certainly come to
know and love their characters as much
as their audiences. But they live with
them year-round, as well, and familiar-
ity breeds, if not contempt, at least a de-
sire to push their buttons.
Which is why the concept of Tuna
Does Vegas, the fourth (and, apparently
final) installment in the prematurely-
named "Tuna Trilogy" has the kind of
wicked energy that only a couple of old
pros feeling newly frisky could devise.
In three plays — Greater Tutui, A Turn
Oirishms and Red, White & Tuna — We've
collectively plumbed the psyches of these
gun-totin', book-bannin', KKK-lovin' East
Texans, enduring Bertha's heartache, Vera'S
smugyiess and Joe Bob's closet.
And now, it's time for everyone to get what's
coming to them.
The pleasure of Vegas derives partly from the
free range that Sears, Williams
and co-author/director Ed
Howard take with mixing things
up. They take us away from the
sleepy burg for the first time, and
they delight in showing every-
one's comeuppance. Charlene
makes a brief appearance only,
laden with whining children and a no-account
hubbie; her brother Stanley is nowhere to be
seen or mentioned (there never was a happy
ending there). Aries and Bertha are now happily
married, and Vera ... well, let's say the slots are
about as kind to her bank statement as she has
been to Lupe these many years.
If they delight in throwing monkey wrenches
into the well-oiled machinery of the characters'
lives, it translates through their performances
(the two men play all the parts), which are ebul-
lient and perhaps even more biting.
The Tuna playa have always been slickly dis-
thedallasopera
HIT THE JACKPOT | Vera Carp (Jaston Williams) struggles with a
gambling addiction when Pearl Burras (Joe Sears) wins big in Tuna
Does Vegas.'
guised anti-conservative manifestos, true Yellow
Dog stalwarts who poke fun at the image of
Texas' right-leaning with brilliant satire. Indeed,
one of the magical spells cast with these plays
(especially in a city like Fort Worth) occurs in the
lobby, watching the truck-and-
rifle set laugh at the gentle mock-
ery alongside all the gay men
who appreciate the camp of see-
ing men in drag.
Vegas goes even further to the
left than usual, with digs at Rush
Limbaugh and fundamentalist
Christians (about the Bible, Vera notes "there's a
cole slaw recipe in there if you know where to
look for it"), some of which go oyer better with
one segment of the audience than another.
But that's how it should be. There's a nostalgia
that comes with seeing the Tuna boys, back to
their old tricks (and some new ones, like the deli-
riously peculiar addition of Anna Conda, who
observes that in Vegas you can pay drag queens
"in lip gloss if the lighting is right"). Even after
all these years, the humor — delivered without
irony — is as fresh as it's ever been.
Fresh nostalgia? Only in Tuna.
TUNA SURPRISE
TUNA DOES VEGAS at Casa
Manana Theatre, 3101
Lancaster Ave., Fort Worth.
Through Feb. 14. $63.
CasaManana.org
FEB 12,14m,
18, 20, 26, 28m 2010
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02.12.10
dallasvoice 33
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Nash, Tammye. Dallas Voice (Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 26, No. 39, Ed. 1 Friday, February 12, 2010, newspaper, February 12, 2010; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth239103/m1/33/: accessed April 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.