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'Greater Tuna By SCOTT PRUDEN Staff writer The Carolina Coliseum was hot, the seats were close, and ancient country music was blaring over the loudspeakers as the crowd of mostly older folks got settli ' 1 i 1 | | ? | JAMES NETTLES/The Gamecock t Bryan Foster plays Leonard Childers, the zany DJ at s Tuna radio station OKKK in Thursday's performance of c 'Greater Tuna' at the Carolina Coliseum. n Benson speaks ca By MARY C. CARROLL speech on dealing witl Staff writer He answered quest Robby Benson rushed in and an hour, beginning wi apologized profusely for being 40 here at USC. Benson s minutes late. dent James Holderma "I'm usually so prompt it's be USC's artist-in-re disgusting," he said. "I thought it year, was at seven." "The whole thing is Benson came to the Calcott zare," Benson said, Building Thursday night to give a had to do it. group of journalism students a Benson, dressed liki I CL1: "j" " mini I Dual 3.5" 720K *~V , rioppy Drive Moaei Suggested Retail Price: $2399.90 Special Student Price: $1506.06 20MB Suggest Specia ' thrills Colii ed. Sound like your worst concert-going nightmare? Think again, gullible readers. This was all in anticipation of Thursday's 8 p.m. performance of Greater Tuna, which was brought to USC by the Carolina Program Union's Cultural Arts Committee. Not, as some might think, a play about fish, Greater Tuna centers around the greater Tuna area, Texas' third smallest town, "where the Lions Club is too liberal and Patsy Cline never dies." The cast of characters includes just about every small town stereotype and eccentric you could think of, managing to satirize most aspects of the small-town lifestyle. What? Satirize small-town southern life? Why, Ashley, what in the world could anyone satirize about lovely (fill in your own home town)? Well, brothers and sisters, the fnllrc in thic chnm make fun of just about everything by their portrayals of the people of Tuna. The cheesy Leonard Childers hosts the local radio call-in show, where citizens of Tuna ex:hange gossip and slander their neighbors on the air. The Rev. Spikes, head of the Smut Snatchers of the New Drder, uses every cliche ever invented in one eulogy, all jnder the adoring gaze of Vera Carp, the local "God jroupie" and purveyor of nasty gossip. Didi Snavely, jwner of the local weapons store, trips out on "nerve )ills." And the list of characters goes on and on. The truly remarkable thing about the whole concept )f Greater Tuna, though, is that all of the characters in his hilarious 99-minute program are played by only two count'em, two) people. Bryan Foster, who has perform:d Greater Tuna more than 400 times, handles what :ould only be described as the short, fat characters, vhile Duane Black, who has an extensive background in :lassical and comedy theatre, takes on the roles of the all, skinny characters. Both actors do an incredible job >f making the distinction between the 10 characters male, female and canine) that each one must play, and ven seem to change their own facial features along with he characters. Speaking of character changes, the costuming crew >ehind Greater Tuna also deserves a moment in the potlight. Costume changes for different characters, inluding getting in and out of wigs and dresses, were nade with lightning speed, with most changes acindidly to jouri h the press. dent in acid-washed jeans and runnions for about ing shoes, later surprised the auith why he was dience by saying he was thinking aid USC Presi- about continuing teaching at USC n asked him to while also pursuing a degree in :sidence for a medicine. "I've always wanted to be a docextremely biz- tor," Benson said. but he felt he He said he wanted to get his degree for his five-year-old daughter, Lyric. i a college stu- "I want to teach my little girl ' ' "niillllll PK~~ ~ > " r-i iPT * ) Hard Disk Model ed Retail Price: $3599.00 1 Student Price: $2302.30 leum audience ?? _? complished in a matter of seconds. Those audience members who failed to read the program before the performance were convinced that the cast included at least lalictc Qhnnt frnfl HK/l/UI H U IJ through example, not lecture. I don't agent or publicity know if I can do it, or when," Ben- the media on his o\ son said, but he will probably give it "You have to o a try. he said. Benson said until he was 18 or 19, Benson related he was the darling of the press, but perience with the pi since then, he has also been the butt red m Mansion, ft of some jokes. promoting his movi "I don't enjoy being sliced up, but A television repoi who does?" Benson said. to wear his running Benson, who has never had a press view, so he relucta ^P037" ZENITH INNOVATES AGAIN-WITH THE NEW B FROM COLLEGE TO CAREER. Small, lightweight, flexible and economical. Ideal for sp the new SupersPort from Zenith Data Systems ? today's FLEXIBLE COURSE SCHEDULE. Whatever your agenda, adapts to your computing style. With a detachable battel that plugs into any outlet. MS-DOS? to run virtually all 1 expandable to 1.64MB with EMS. Plus the SupersPort co or 20MB hard disk models. For flexible desktop perform; CARRY SOME GREAT HOURS THIS TERM. 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