What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/1487082
december 4-10, 2022 What's up! 3 Faq 'A Tuna Christmas' WHEN — 8 p.m. Dec. 9-10; 2 p.m. Dec. 11; again Dec. 15-18 WHERE — Arkansas Public Theatre at the Victory in Rogers COST — $25-$50 INFO — arkansaspublictheatre. org/tickets or 631-8988 FYI — The Zephyr Blevins Gallery at the Victory is showing "Fish in Any Medium" during "A Tuna Christmas." CoVeR SToRy Small But Mighty two apt actors bring wacky tuna, texas, to life Arles Struvie (left, played by christopher Willard) and thurston Wheelis (michael Weir) report the wacky tuna, texas, version of the news on radio station OKKK in the arkansas public theatre production of "a tuna christmas," opening dec. 9 at the Victory theatre in downtown rogers. (courtesy photo/chad Wigington for apt) BECCA MARTIN-BROWN NWA Democrat-Gazette I magine learning 500 lines for a play — give or take a few dozen. Sounds daunting enough, doesn't it? Then imagine those lines are spread over more than half a dozen characters, each with a different costume, a different wig, a different age and male and female genders. That Herculean challenge is what's facing the two actors in the Arkansas Public Theatre production of "A Tuna Christmas." It's a sequel to "Greater Tuna," but this time the holidays have come to the third-smallest town in Texas, and radio station OKKK personalities Thurston Wheelis and Arles Struvie are reporting on the town's weird and wonderful Yuletide activities, including the hot competition in the annual lawn-display contest. "'A Tuna Christmas' is and has been part of our holiday trilogy, which also includes 'A Christmas Story' and 'The Best Christmas Pageant Ever,'" explains Ed McClure, artistic director for APT and the show's director. "I love that it has a heart — that at the end of the day, and no matter what weighs you down, the spirit and feeling during the holidays can lift you up. "The show is hilarious, and two great actors are at their peak with this performance." Michael Weir, whose "anchor character" is Thurston Wheelis, is well known to APT audiences for shows as diverse as "Jesus Christ Superstar," "A Comedy of Tenors" and most recently "The Music Man." This is, however, his first experience in Tuna, Texas. "I wanted to do 'Tuna' because playing multiple comic characters was going to be fun and challenging," he says. "Also, I haven't had too many chances in my performing life to play in a two-man show. "Even though part of the comedy is that it is the same two men playing multiple ages and genders, the actors still have to make the characters authentic and believable for it to work," Weir goes on. "There is kind of a fine See Tuna Page 4