Dec 7, 2015
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For more information, contact:
Scooter MacMillan, marketing director
Springer Opera House
706-256-0955
smacmillan@springeroperahouse.org
Columbus, GA--12.5.2015: For the 14th year, the Springer is taking audiences on another trip to Tuna, Texas, to celebrate Christmas.
In 2001, the State Theatre of Georgia first produced “A Tuna Christmas,” the story of Texas’ third smallest town’s Christmas lawn display contest. Since then it has become Columbus’ most successful theatre production.
“Although we had been consistently selling out performances, one year we thought that people might be getting tired of seeing ‘A Tuna Christmas,’ so we didn’t do it, said Paul Pierce, the Springer’s artistic director. “People demanded that we do the show again. And again. And again. Many people tell us that seeing ‘A Tuna Christmas’ has become part of the family’s holiday tradition.”
All 22 roles in “A Tuna Christmas” are played by two actors. For years that has been the Springer’s producing artistic director Paul Pierce and Ron Anderson, who retired last year as associate artistic director and director of the Springer Theatre Academy. Last year Anderson was being treated for cancer and Atlanta actor and playwright Topher Payne played the 11 roles that Anderson had played.
This year Anderson has responded so well to cancer treatment that he returns to the Springer stage to perform “A Tuna Christmas.”
The 22 characters that Pierce and Anderson portray are in a tizzy about the mysterious Christmas Phantom, who’s vandalizing Christmas decorations and threatening Vera Carp’s chances of winning the yard-display contest for the 15th year in a row.
As in years past, “A Tuna Christmas” is directed by Ed Howard who wrote all of the Tuna comedies (“Greater Tuna,” “A Tuna Christmas,” “Red, White and Tuna,” and “Tuna Does Vegas”) with Jaston Williams and Joe Sears.
More than 35,000 people have seen “A Tuna Christmas” in Columbus. Pierce and Anderson have performed the show 137 times during which time they’ve gone through 6,302 costume changes.
The show requires two quick-change dressers to help with the amazingly fast costume changes for 22 characters. Each performance involves:
11 wigs, beards and mustaches
16 shoes and boots
10 pairs of glasses
13 hats and caps.
The quickest costume change is six seconds.
“A Tuna Christmas” opens at 7:30 p.m. Thursday. It runs at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, (Dec. 10-12 and Dec. 17-19) and Monday-Wednesday (Dec. 21-23). There’s one Sunday matinee at 2:30 p.m., Dec. 20.
For tickets or information: 706-327-3688 or springeroperahouse.org.
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