The River City Players take a final bow after their debut performance Saturday night.
The River City Players Community Theater Group presented their first play, “A Tuna Christmas,” on Saturday night at the high school auditorium.
Set in the small town of Tuna, Texas, the play spotlighted the squabbles of quirky characters preparing for an annual lawn display contest, dealing with errant husbands, and trying to keep the lights on for their own community theater production.
Susan Hawkins, chair of the River City Players, says she was very encouraged by the response to the production, considering that it happened during the holiday season and was the first for the group.
Casting began in August for the play and an “aggressive” rehearsal schedule started around the beginning of October.
Two months later, the group was ready to present “A Tuna Christmas,” to the community.
Susan says it has been fun to watch the progression and growth of the actors from the very beginning, some of whom had little to no experience with theater.
Many of the cast members had more than one role, some as many as three or four.
David Senatore, who directed the play and also played a major role, is “our only professional,” said Susan, although she says it is obvious that there are others who are stars in the making.
David was also impressed with the performance of the cast.
“They were absolutely amazing,” he said. “They listened well, they worked very hard, and you couldn’t ask for a better group of people.”
The River City Players began with a five people meeting in January of 2013 to discuss the possibility of forming a community theater group.
In July, the group introduced themselves to the community and became a formal organization. Currently, the River City Players has about 50 members.
The organization is very interested in doing some dinner theater, some one-act plays and even some outdoor productions in the future. They also hope to get more students involved.
The River City Players will meet soon to begin work on a new production, which they hope to have ready for early spring.