“There’s no such place as Greater Tuna. The town that’s billed as the third smallest town in Texas, where the Lion’s Club is too liberal and Patsy Cline never dies, is a 15-year-old figment of some wild imaginations. But some folks do say that the goings on in Greater Tuna – which stretch from insensitivity to fish to censoring the dictionary – are as true to life as anything you’ll find in any actual boot-stompin’ Bible-thumpin’ Texas town. Maybe more so. Greater Tuna meets Oak Harbor next week when the curtain goes up on the 35th season at Whidbey Playhouse. Opening night is Friday, Sept. 8 and the show runs through Sept. 30. The two-man show, written by Joe Sears, Jaston Williams and Ed Howard, is a theatrical version of perpetual motion. You could say it keeps the actors as busy as a one-armed preacher at baptisin’ time.Between them, Tom Ledcke and Dann Davies play the parts of about 20 of the citizens and animals of Greater Tuna, male and female, old and young, righteous and evil. We play about 10 characters each, said Davies. It’s a good challenge. It’s a stretch for the actors and for the costume department – it’s full of 15-second costume changes.Ledcke pulls up the leg of his khakis to reveal a pair of bobbie socks worn over pantyhose, in preparation for his next two characters.The heart of the play is the local radio station – OKKK, broadcasting with 275 powerful watts – and Ledcke plays the part of announcer Arles Struvie.The action spins around the expiration of the judge, who, rumor has it, was found dead wearing a woman’s bikini. A Dale Evans 1950 turqoise bikini with a cowgirl fringe, Davies said. But it’s just a rumor. You know how rumors start.Ledcke also takes the parts of all the Bumiller children, including Charlene, a would-be cheerleader; Vera Carp, vice president of the Smut Snatchers of the New Order which screens school dictionaries for words that might be objectionable to young children; Petey Fisk, the Humane Society chairman caught up in a save the fish campaign; and Didi Snavely, owner of the used weapons store.Davies plays a couple of mothers, Yippy the dog, half the staff of the radio station, the spokesman for Klan 249, Sheriff Givens and Rev. Spikes of the Coweta Baptist Church, where everybody is welcome, even Catholics. In between speeches, the two make their own sound effects, from the dialing noise of a phone, chickens, little dog Yippy, a gavel and a car engine with grinding gears.Both men are on stage most of the time, and when they’re off, unseen characters speak.There are no slow moments, director Jim Riney said. We change into the wrong costume sometimes, Davies said. But if they do, they just keep going.The hardest part, said Davies, is keeping all the different voices in your mind, so that you can find the right one and nail it without stopping to think.You don’t have time to think for a second, Ledcke said. You’re just out there. It’s like a roller coaster ride.Each character has a different body, too. To help with instant identity, Ledcke thinks of each of his personalities as a letter – this one has an S-shaped posture, that statuesque woman is a great big I, the Humane Society chairman is a question mark. It gives you something to work with, he said.It’s a challenge to bring it all together, said Riney, who chose the play. You need very skilled actors. It’s just great to work with these guys.Ledcke, who works as a special education aide at Coupeville Elementary school has appeared in professional theater productions in Chicago and New York, as well as in films and commercials. This is his first appearance at the Playhouse. Davies, a postal worker who lives in Anacortes, is a veteran of 11 years of Playhouse productions, as well as a regular performer for theater groups around the region, from Anacortes Community Theatre to the Edge of the World theater in Edmonds. It all adds up to more than 50 different roles, ranging from a Marine corporal to a king to a donkey. But I always wanted to play a woman, Davies said, and this is the first time.Maybe that’s why his favorite character is Greater Tuna fashion plate is Bertha Bumiller, with her extra-big Texan hair, and the lovely lime-green pants suit she wears when she visits the town’s shut-ins as one of the kindly Tuna Helpers. It’s all just part of another day in the life of Greater Tuna.——————–Come to the barbecue Bring on the ribs. Dish up that corn on the cob.A sizzlin’ Texas-style barbecue – in the spirit of the Texas-style comedy coming up next at Whidbey Playhouse – is set for Sunday, Sept. 10 at the Playhouse.The two-man show Greater Tuna will be presented as dinner theater for one night only, with round tables in place of the theater seating. The party starts at 4 p.m. with a social hour; dinner will be served at 5 p.m.; and the first act starts at 6 p.m. Dessert will be served between the two acts.The all-you-can-eat menu is fit for Texas-sized appetites, Terry Lacey, the show’s producer, says. Pot Belly Deli and The Caterers will cook up barbecued chicken and ribs outside on the Playhouse lawn, to be served with cole slaw, corn on the cob and bread rolls.The barbecue dinner will raise money for Whidbey Playhouse improvements, said director and board member Jim Riney. We’d like to improve some of the technical aspects of the theater, he said, including the lighting. Nothing has been done to the lighting for 10 years.Dinner theater at the Playhouse has been tried just once before, Riney said. But we’d like to do more dinner shows, where people can stay at their tables during the show. It’s a nice relaxed atmosphere. Seating is available for 80 theater-goers. Tickets: $25 for dinner and the show. Call 679-2237 for reservations. ——————–Greater Tuna timesOpening night for Greater Tuna is Friday, Sept. 8, at 8 p.m. In addition to the special dinner theater on Sunday, Sept. 10, performances are on Sept. 9, 14, 15, 16, 17, 21, 22, 23, 24, 28, 29 and 30. Thursday shows begin at 7:30 p.m.; Friday and Saturday shows at 8 p.m. and Sunday matinees are at 2 p.m. Bargain Thursday is Sept. 14, with $8 tickets. Ticket prices: adults $11; seniors and youth, $9. Call 679-2237. “