It has been 21 months of audience silence at the Longmont Community Theatre. It is a sound the performing arts group hopes to shatter with its season-opening Christmas comedy, A Tuna Christmas.
A Tuna Christmas, written by Jaston Williams, Joe Sears and Ed Howard, is set in the small, fictional town of Tuna, Texas. To the ordinary outsider, it doesn’t appear that much happens here. Driving through the town during the holiday season, one might even be intrigued, if not a bit confused at times when viewing the holiday yard displays.
The yard displays in this tiny town are all the citizens have on their minds. This year, a Christmas Phantom is keeping everyone guessing as to what the prankster or pranksters will do to sabotage contestants in the annual Christmas Yard Display Contest.
True to the original format, the Longmont Theatre Company chose to only cast two actors — Shannon McCarthy and Josh Leisure — to play all 20 parts in the play.
McCarthy said this show was on his bucket list. He has been in love with the play since he saw it many years ago. He auditioned once when he was younger in another theatre house but was not cast for the role because “I was not old enough,” he said. Thirty years later, he feels like he has matured into the position.
Leisure was looking to dust off his acting skills after the mandatory hiatus COVID demanded. He found his way to the play and thought it would be a challenge but was ready to take it on.
The set is simple, a table, two chairs and Christmas trees that rotate in and out, depending on the home the play enters at the time. Behind the scenes is where the true complexity lies. With 20 characters played by two actors, costumes are a big part of the show.
Rebekah Atwell and Ally Barwick keep the actors dressed appropriately for each character and the costumes organized when not in use, McCarthy said.
“We have two great dressers. They make those changes so nice. One of them is down, helping us change the bottom half and another one is there helping us change the top half,” McCarthy said.
The two actors were further challenged by the number of lines in the play. The line count seems pretty evenly split, but with a two and half hour show, there are still a lot of words to speak, McCarthy said.
Through all the challenges of the past 20 months, the crew and cast hope the audience will enjoy a show meant to be lighthearted and funny.
“I really hope it puts them in the holiday spirit. With all the turmoil going on, I just hope it’s a feel-good show that leaves people feeling happy and ready to go into the new year,” Leisure said.
