The Copperstate Dinner Theater At Arizona Broadway Theatre is pleased to announce the opening of the hilarious comedy Greater Tuna. It will play in The Encore Room at ABT April 23 – May 30, 2010*.
Visit Tuna, Texas!! Greater Tuna is the hilarious comedy about Texas’ third smallest town, where the Lion’s Club is too liberal and Patsy Cline never dies. With a witheringly satiric look at small towns and even smaller minds, Greater Tuna lampoons every form of prejudice with humor and wit. The eclectic band of citizens that make up this town are portrayed by only two performers, playing 20 characters, with over 70 costume changes as they depict all of the inhabitants of Tuna — men, women, children and animals. With amazing characterizations and equally amazing quick-changes, Jack Dwyer and Peter J. Hill bring this wildly eccentric town to life!
Greater Tuna is directed by Peter J. Hill and stars Jack Dwyer and Hill recreating their AriZoni Award winning roles. Seating in The Encore Room is very limited, so early reservations are highly recommended.
Greater Tuna will play in The Encore Room of The Arizona Broadway Theater, 7701 W. Paradise Lane. Performances are Friday & Saturday evenings with dinner 6:30pm, curtain 8:00pm. And Sunday Matinees with dinner 12:30pm and curtain 2:00pm. The ticket price for all performances is only $39.00 per person which includes dinner and the show. Appetizers, desserts and beverages are extra. A full bar is available. Reservations can be made at (623) 776-8400.
PETER J. HILL
Originally from New York, Peter is the Producing Director of The Copperstate Dinner Theater, where, along with his wife Noel, he is proud to have led the company for the past 13 years. He is equally as proud of the more than 3 dozen AriZoni Awards for theatrical excellence that have been earned by the company during that time. As an actor, Peter has been seen in roles ranging from Antonio Salieri in Amadeus to the befuddled neighbor Stanley in Run For Your Wife and even President Harry S. Truman in Give ‘em Hell, Harry. Copperstate audiences roared when he took on the role of Psuedolus, the wily slave in our hit production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. As director, he has helmed over 300 plays, musicals and revues including the Southwest Premiers of A Chorus Line, ‘night Mother, Lend Me a Tenor and 42nd Street. As a playwright, Peter has created numerous shows including Ashes to Ashes, The Big Radio Broadcast of 1941, The Three Musketeers, Could You Repeat the Question?, Broadway by the Decade and Broadway Jukebox - all of which won the AriZoni Award for Best Original Production of the Year. He is currently at work on a new musical stage adaptation of Kipling’s The Man Who Would Be King. Peter was also honored in 2009 with the Outstanding Contribution Award from the AriZonis for his lifetime contribution to theater in the valley. Peter lives by the Motto: “I can’t, I have rehearsal”.
JACK DWYER
Jack is thrilled to be recreating his role as Arles and the rest of the gang in Tuna. “I have missed my friends from Tuna, they are definitely an odd bunch, but start to grow on you”. Jack has been performing on local stages since 1982 when he arrived here from the thriving metropolis of Princeton, IL. He has worked with almost every theatre company in the Valley including several shows here at Copperstate, Phoenix Theatre, Actors Lab, Actors Theatre, Arizona Jewish Theatre, and NAU Rep. Theatre. A few of Jack’s favorite roles have been Dracula, Chaz in Footlight Frenzy, Mortimer in The Fantastiks, and Smee in Peter Pan. By day Jack is a landscape designer. When not in a show, Jack is a very active youth baseball coach having run a local club team sponsored by the Chandler Lumber Company for four years.
*There will be no performances on May 8, 9, 15, 16, 21, 22 or 23.
