The Catskill Chronicle

Review by Sharlene Hartman

The History

ELLENVILLE, NY (May 7, 2014) – If you have chosen to read this article, it’s probably no news to you that Shadowland is the premiere professional theater in the Hudson Valley, consistently producing top quality plays in an Actors Equity-approved theatre with professional actors.

And given the state of our economy, for the last couple of years, they have completed quite an accomplishment.

Shadowland is starting their 30^th Season, an expanded season of seven productions rather than the usual five, and has reached their goal of raising over $1 million.

The successful campaign has been used for a beautiful renovation, including new nuts and bolts, (seen and not seen), cosmetic improvements and new dressing rooms to entice and coddle the much-needed actors who bring these fabulous plays to life.

This past Friday, May 2nd was not just the opening of the 30^th season it was the official opening ceremony to commemorate the Robert Osgood Theatre.

The distinguished Mr. Osgood has been a leader in the fundraising efforts and involved with Shadowland for most of its 30 years. Another long time supporter, Bill Collier, spoke of Shadowland’s interesting historical background, mentioning all the many people, groups and events that have helped bring Shadowland to where it is today; least of which is the talented Brendan Burke, Shadowland’s Artistic Director for the past 10 years.

And it wasn’t just the large contributors that were thanked; Jim McIntyre, long time supporter and project manager for the renovation, mentioned an annual donation from a fellow in Staten Island. A fundraising article had been placed in numerous publications years ago, and one of the people that responded was a fellow named Richie from Staten Island. He sent a letter to Shadowland with a check for $2.00, saying “I don’t know who you are but it sounds good.” And Richie has proceeded to repeat this donation annually. So you see it also “takes a village” to help a theatre thrive, truly expanding the meaning of “The Greater Ellenville Area.”

The Hilarity

And speaking of the geographical use of “greater,” Shadowland opened its newly expanded season with “Greater Tuna,” a laugh-your-troubles-away tale, taking place in the fictional town of Tuna, Texas, population 147.

The town is filled with eccentric characters, who utter jaw-dropping dialog and who have never heard of the term “politically correct.” All the local news is broadcast from radio station “OKKK.” where you will learn about a meeting being held called “Human Rights, Why Bother?,” a winning essay titled “The Other Side Of Bigotry,” and of course the local weather report, crop prices and local politics. The broadcast is heard from different radios, in different locales that we visit, as we meet the many high profile residents of “Tuna,” AND as the audience gasps, then laughs at the dialog from some of these larger-than-life characters.

The play was published in 1981, written by a team of three writers: Jaston Williams, Joe Sears and Ed Howard. Jaston and Joe are the original actors and Ed directed. They have toured the country with it for years and have followed it up with three other “Tuna”sequels. But it was written at a time when the country wasn’t as sensitive to certain kinds of humor and Shadowland does describe it as a “scathing satire of small minds in a small town.”

However, along with the “small minded” stuff there is plenty of smilingly naughty dialog, especially when it comes to the meeting of the Smut Snatcher’s, who are trying to remove certain words from the high school’s dictionaries. I observed people doubled over from laughter, laughing so hard they couldn’t catch their breath. I overheard comments like: “I was laughing so hard I was crying,” “it was just what I needed” and “just the thing to see if you’ve had a crappy day and need a release.” And it was kind of fun to hear the audience “shame” some of the character’s opinionated dialog with winces and “oh noooo!!,” as they giggled.

The whole crazy town of Tuna, Texas is brought to life by an extremely talented team of actors. Jim Ligon and Michael Irvin Pollard play 10 characters each and switch personalities as well as their costumes with lighting speed. They also do a variety of sound effects, it’s all very impressive. The 20-character “cast” is directed by Carlton James, who must have drunk an awful lot of coffee to keep up with  this wacky group of eccentrics. My guess is that “Mr. James” is an alias; his tongue-in-cheek bio, very cleverly written, says he lives in Greenland, is artistic director for “Under the Ice Theatre” and this is his “North American directorial debut.” So my gut tells me that the real director is someone who is actually on the stage, someone that is very close to these “Tuna” residents; one of the actors perhaps?

Ligon and Pollard perform the play seamlessly. I was almost positive that they’d been in numerous “Greater Tuna” productions prior to this. Well, I was 50% correct; this is Mr. Ligon’s 8^th production of “Tuna” and he has fine-tuned every single character; his body language is remarkable. However, this is Mr. Pollard’s first production, but his extensive background in sketch and improvisational comedy truly shows. When he changes from the prissy, pill-box hat-wearing, Vera Carp, V.P. of Smut Snatchers, into reform schooled Stanley Bumiller, wearing an exaggerated mullet and camouflage pants, it is magical. But my instincts were correct about this team’s chemistry, they have performed previously together in another play by the same writers, “Tuna Christmas.”

And speaking of magic, much of it takes place behind the set, right on stage; very much like the Wizard in Oz. The costumes change so fast, in a blink of an eye, and all due to the behind the scenes stars: Assistant Stage Manager Kristen Ansbro, Assistant Stage Manager Patrick John Kierman and Kirkland J. Beck who make it all happen so smoothly. In talking to Kirkland about the fast-change magic, he said that had it been possible for the audience to get a view of the “dressing” action behind the set, those tickets could have sold at a premium. And kudos to Stage Manager Michael Castillo, who I have a feeling helped a ton with orchestrating everything.

If you’re ready to laugh till it hurts, “tsk, tsk” the distasteful remarks, wonder at the team of talent and have a good ol’ time, get your fanny in a new cushy Shawdowland seat. One of the last lines in the play is, “If you can find someplace you like better than Tuna…MOVE!”; so to re-phrase I’ll say: If you can find someplace better to go than “Greater Tuna”… GO!

It runs through Sunday May 18: Thursday – Saturday at 8:00 p.m., Sunday at 2:00 p.m. at Shadowland Theatre, 157 Canal Street, Ellenville, NY. Call 845-647-5511 or visit the website shadowlandtheatre.org for more information.