Two very funny actors play more than twenty characters between them in The Oklahoma Shakespearean Festival’s current dinner theater production of “A Tuna Christmas,” a gentle satire of life in the fictional town of Tuna, Texas, “the third smallest town in Texas.”

Although the play has frequently been done with a much larger cast, authors Jaston Williams, Joe Sears and Ed Howard wrote it for two. Williams and Sears themselves have toured the country playing it and the other plays in the series, which includes Greater Tuna, Red, White and Tuna, and Tuna Does Vegas. The entire series has proven enormously popular over its two decades of touring, following the Off Broadway premier of Greater Tuna in 1982. It has also become a reliable hit for regional theaters and community theaters across the nation.

Veteran OSF actors Aaron Adair and Paul B. Crook have leapt at the challenge of playing multiple characters, each of which must be delineated sharply from all the others, so that both actors and audience can keep them straight. Director Charles Prosser says that although “the play is traditionally done with two men,” the authors do “give license to play with multiple actors,” because it demands versatility and experience. Prosser has previously directed Greater Tuna more than once.

But, he said, “I never had actors strong enough to play eleven characters each. I had eight actors doing three or four characters each.”

In Adair and Crook, Prosser has an experienced comic duo who are up to the task.

“The show is a good tennis match between actors,” said Adair. “Instead of fighting, though, you want to keep the ball in constant motion.You have to keep 200 percent energy to do that.” But, if the show can be done with many more actors, why would Prosser want to try using only two actors, and why do Adair and Crook want to take it on?

“Part of the joy for the audience is knowing how quickly we change from one character to another. One would swear there are more people on stage than there are.” Prosser adds, “I’ve seen it done with multiple actors and the rhythm was lost. It was choppier.”

The alchemy of the show, what makes it so readily charming to audiences, is the channeling of so many, wildly disparate characters through the sensibilities of just two men or women (each actor plays both male and female characters.) The actor’s own personality infuses all his characters, while simultaneously, his craft and imagination makes each distinct.

“Two actors preserve the continuity of the piece.”

The play is nothing if not an “actor’s” play. With very little “furniture to bump into,” as Crook says, “we can concentrate on the characters, who are very real to life, not stereotypes.” Both Prosser and Adair chime in agreement.

“And the show is popular because these are every day people. They’re real,” said Prosser.

“Bertha is my mother. Vera is my aunt. I can go through this show and pick out each one of my family members,” said Crook, adding, “though this show can be appreciated by anyone from anywhere, many of the characters may be more present in the south,” giving it a special piquancy for a town such as Durant, which is not that much bigger than Tuna.

The Oklahoma Shakespearean Festival’s production of “A Tuna Christmas” performs in the Visual and Performing Arts Center, on the campus of Southeastern Oklahoma State University, on Thursday, July 9, Tuesday, July 14, and Sunday, July 19, at 6:30 p.m. Dinner includes turkey and dressing, Hot rolls, salad, green beans almandine, creamed potatoes with turkey gravy, and cobbler.

Tickets may be purchased by calling the Box Office at (580) 745-2696 or going to the Box Office at The Visual and Performing Arts Center, 1614 N. 1st St., Durant, between the hours of 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday, or on Saturday from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. Tickets may also be ordered online by emailing oklahomashakespeare@yahoo.com.