About the Playwrights

Ed Howard, Joe Sears, and Jaston Williams • Met in Austin, Texas in 1980 through the formation of a theater company called Trans/Act, which quickly dissolved. Unemployed, Sears and Williams acted in a series of politically-inspired party skits that turned into Greater Tuna, with Howard helping finalize the script, direct, and produce the show. Since then the Tuna franchise has dominated their careers: Sears and Williams have performed Greater Tuna some 4,000 times, and the three have extended the brown’s legacy through A Tuna Christmas (1994), Red, White, and Tuna (1998), and Tuna Does Vegas (2008). However, the men’s careers also go beyond the fictional small town. Williams has had critically acclaimed performances in such shows as Larry Shue’s The Foreigner, Eugene Ionesco’s the Chairs, and Jay Presson Allen’s Tru. Sears’ Acting career encompasses musicals, dramas, Shakespeare, television, and film appearances. Ed Howard also co-authored Splendora, based on the novel by Edward Swift, and book and lyrics of the musicals The Body Snatchers and Boy Problems.

Meet the Director and the Cast

Julia Gibson is very happy to return to Portland Stage.  Last year she directed Searching for Mr. Moon, and several years ago …. Greater Tuna.  She has directed with Rattlestick, Barrow Street, Origin Theatre, ManhattanTheatreSource and Epic Theatre Company in New York City; and at Chautauqua Theatre Company, Gulfshore Playhouse, New London Barn, Juilliard, NYU Graduate Acting, SMU in Dallas, The Actors Center Conservatory, A.C.T. Conservatory in San Francisco, Stony Brook University and Stella Adler Conservatory.  She was Associate Director of the revival of Angels in America at The Signature Theatre.  As an actor she has performed on and off Broadway and at major theatres across the U.S., as well as on TV and film.  She is currently Co-Head of the Graduate Acting Program at UNC Chapel Hill where she also serves as a company member of PlayMakers Repertory Company.  She received her MFA in Acting from New York University and is a founding member of The Actors Center in New York City as well as the National Alliance for Acting Teachers; she is a Fox Fellowship recipient and has narrated over 160 audio books.  Julia recently received a Carolina Women’s Center Faculty Scholarship grant to create a theatre piece about women and aging. 

Tom Ford Portland Stage: Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure, The Last Ship to Proxima Centauri, A Christmas Carol, Read to Me, Greater Tuna, Bach at Leipzig, The Mystery of Irma Vep, I Am My Own Wife, The Snow Queen, Iron Kisses, The Woman in Black, Lend Me a Tenor, Art, and Gaslight. Boise Contemporary Theater: The Show on the Roof (World Premiere of a New Musical, book by Tom Ford, music and lyrics by Alex Syiek), Lewiston, Tru and This Wonderful Life. Northern Stage: It’s a Wonderful Life: A Radio Play and Miss Trunchbull in Matilda. Idaho Shakespeare and Great Lakes Theater: Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady, Frollo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Wargrave in And Then There Were None, the Fool in King Lear, Sidney Bruhl in Deathtrap, Sweeney in Sweeney Todd, Thenardier in Les Miserables, Argan in The Imaginary Invalid, Mr. Paravicini in The Mousetrap, Baker in Into the Woods, Pseudolus in A Funny Thing Happened…, and the title role in You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown. New London Barn Playhouse: The Odd Couple, The Man Who Came to Dinner, The Drowsy Chaperone, A Funny Thing Happened…, Hairspray, Harvey, The Pirates of Penzance, The Producers, and She Loves Me. Broadway: By Jeeves. tomfordactor.com.

Nathaniel P. Claridad Off-Broadway/NYC include: Here Lies Love (The Public Theater), Taylor Mac’s 24 Decade History…(St. Ann’s Warehouse); Regional credits include work at The Kennedy Center, PlayMakers Repertory Company, Folger Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Two River Theatre, Cape Fear Regional Theatre, Imagination Stage, Hangar Theatre, Barrington Stage Company, Florida Studio Theatre. International credits include work at the Brisbane Festival and the Sydney Opera House with Dead Puppet Society. TV: New Amsterdam, Harlem. As a director, credits include work at Weathervane Theatre, Imagination Stage, Southern Rep., Out of the Box Theatrics, as well as being named a Drama League Resident in 2019 & 2016. MFA: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.