Auditions for High Springs Playhouse 2020 – 2021 Season
A Tuna Christmas
By Ed Howard, Joe Sears, Jaston Williams | Directed by Catherine Karow
In A Tuna Christmas, we get a snapshot of the Yuletide activities of the many eccentric denizens of Tuna, from a highly contentious Christmas Yard Display Contest threatened by the vandalism of the mysterious “Christmas Phantom”; to a production of A Christmas Carol seemingly doomed by an overdue electric bill. We meet Bertha Bumiller, doing her best to hold her family together during the holidays; Didi Snavely, the owner of Didi’s Used Weapons; Vera Carp, leader of the Smut Snatchers of the New Order; and Inita Goodwin and Helen Bedd, best friends and waitresses at the Tastee Kreme; among many others!
A Tuna Christmas Characters
- Multiple actors are needed to play numerous roles. All genders and ethnicity!
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- Arles Struvie – A disc jockey at radio station WTTT.
- Didi Snavely – Owner of Didi’s Used Weapons (“If we can’t kill it, it’s immortal”)
- Petey Fisk – Employee of the Greater Tuna Humane Society
- Jody Bumiller – Youngest child of Bertha Bumiller
- Stanley Bumiller – Aspiring taxidermist, fresh from reform school; twin to Charlene
- Charlene Bumiller – Daughter of Bertha Bumiller and sister to Stanley and Jody; infatuated with Joe Bob Lipsey. As seen with Bertha Bumiller (Sears) at the Kennedy Center]
- Vera Carp – Town snob and acting leader of the Smut-Snatchers of the New Order (“until the Rev. Spikes gets out of prison”)
- Dixie Deberry – Controller of the Tuna Electric Company
- Helen Bedd – A waitress at the Tasty-Creme. As seen with Inita Goodwin (Sears) at the Kennedy Center]
- Farley Burkhalter – A “little person” and a patron of the Tasty-Creme
- Garland Poteet- A soda distributor and one of Inita’s many boyfriends
- Thurston Wheelis – A disc jockey at radio station WTTT
- Elmer Watkins – The victim of a tragic flameshooter incident, Elmer was left with no eyebrows.
- Bertha Bumiller – Housewife and mother to Jody, Stanley, and Charlene; member of the Smut Snatchers of the New Order (“Censorship is as American as apple pie, so shut up!”)
- Leonard Childers – Entrepreneur and radio personality on WTTT
- R.R. Snavely – UFOlogist and husband to Didi
- Pearl Burras – Aunt to Bertha, former riveter in Houston during World War II (the Japanese “never sank one of [her] ships!”)
- Sheriff Givens – Called “Rubber Sheets” due to his having wet the bed at church camp
- Ike Thompson- a slow-witted highway worker
- Inita Goodwin – A waitress at the Tasty-Creme
- Phoebe Burkhalter- Presumably Farley’s significant other, Phoebe is voiced by Sears but onstage is a wig behind a window manipulated by a stagehand
- Joe Bob Lipsey – the “not-the-marrying-kind” director of the Tuna Little Theater’s “troubled production” of A Christmas Carol
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Auditions will be held at the High Springs Playhouse, 130 NE 1st Ave. (use for GPS navigation), High Springs, FL 32643
Rehearsals are typically weekday evenings but may vary by director. Show dates are Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m. and Sundays at 2:00 p.m. (July 4th will be at 2pm)
The High Springs Playhouse is a ‘Community Theater’ and we encourage anyone to audition for our season productions. Experience in theater is not required. We welcome theater enthusiasts from all walks of life.
When planning to audition for an HSP production, please consider researching the particular play to see which role(s) you would be interested in and to have an understanding of the story being told. Performers should plan on providing basic information about themselves to the show director and production staff and may be asked to ‘read for’ various roles during the audition. If possible, please print out the Audition Form below and bring it to the audition already filled out with your information.
