Rogers City Community Theatre’s production, “Tuna Does Vegas” runs Thursday through Sunday, enabling theater-goers to once again enjoy live entertainment here in Northeastern Michigan.

“A hilarious distraction,” Pennie Hoeft, president of Rogers City Community Theatre, said of the two-man madcap comedy production.

Show times are as follows: 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, with doors opening at 7 p.m., and 2 p.m. on Sunday, with doors opening at 1:30 p.m.

Attendance will be limited to 70 tickets which will be available at the door at the Rogers City Theater, 257 N. Third St., in downtown Rogers City.

Aunt Pearl (Perrault) stops by for an unannounced visit as Arles (Heidemann) ushers her in.

Tickets are $14 per adult and $6 per student, available at the door on a first-come, first-served basis.

This production stars Karl W. Heidemann and Edward Perrault Jr. and is directed by Denise Perrault.

“Tuna Does Vegas” is a full-length two-hour play written by “the legendary ‘Greater Tuna’ creative team” of Jaston Williams, Joe Sears and Ed Howard.

Tuna is “the third smallest town in Texas” full of “lovable and eccentric characters,” all of whom will be portrayed by the duo of Heidemann and Perrault.

“Those two actors play around 20 characters and have 42 costume changes!” Hoeft said. “The plot is that a married couple plan an anniversary trip to Las Vegas to renew their wedding vows. Unfortunately, many of the townspeople decide to go to Las Vegas as well and plans go awry.”

A very pregnant Charlene (Heidemann) defends her poor choices on the phone.

Perrault plays 10 characters and Heidemann plays 14. And yes, they both dress up as women quite a bit, which only adds to the hilarity of the play.

“We will walk out that side of the stage, and 10 seconds later we’ll come in as a completely different character,” Heidemann explained prior to Tuesday night’s rehearsal. “Different costume, different accent, different sex sometimes.”

Heidemann and Perrault enjoy working together.

“Well, Ed’s a pretty good actor, so he’ll have to speak for himself,” Heidemann said.

“I’ve learned from the best,” Perrault said, gesturing toward Heidemann, who noted that playing a bunch of different roles is fun and challenging.

“For myself, I really like to get into a role, and as much as I’m able to in this, I try to do that,” Heidemann said. “So I have studied all of my characters to find out what is it that makes that person tick?”

Both men said the costumers backstage deserve credit.

“You go offstage, it’s hectic, you just surrender yourself to the costume goddesses…”

“Which are the real heroes in this play,” Perrault chimed in. “And we’re fortunate because these changers are all veteran actresses. They’re awesome.”

The “costume goddesses” are Hoeft, Val Schalk, Caitlyn Shadbolt and Ashley Nowicki.

Perrault said audiences will understand where the characters are coming from.

“These are all characters I think the audience members can relate to,” he said. “Everybody has that ‘Aunt Pearl’ in their family, of sorts, or the neighbor friend ‘Vera,’ the one that’s over the top with her religion and her beliefs.”

Vera Carp, portrayed by Heidemann, is the head of the Tuna Society, which makes sure all “dirty words” are banned.

“She’s the president of the ‘Smut Snatchers’ Association’,” said Perrault.

“It certainly makes fun of small-town community, but it’s also a tribute to the interaction and the relationships of the people within the community,” Heidemann said of the play.

Fittingly, it comes out on Valentine’s Day weekend, which is when the main couple is headed to Vegas to renew their wedding vows.

The duo noted that they hope to encourage people to attend responsibly, as masks are required, and only 25% capacity is allowed.

“I’m really hoping that people are anxious to get out,” Perrault said. “But the important thing is that the Theater is making sure that everyone stays protected, so we want to be safe, but I’m sure between the winter months — cabin fever — and the COVID thing, I’m sure folks would really like to get out and see a show.”

Director Denise Perrault, Ed’s wife, said audiences will truly crack up at this play.

“We’re having so much fun,” she said. “A lot of laughs.”

“It is a really funny show,” Perrault said, adding that the show is PG-13, but not offensive to adults.

Hoeft is the assistant director and stage manager. Schalk is in charge of the costumes and is producer. Theresa Gibson is the technical director and sound technician. Baylee Lijewski is the lighting technician. Heidemann is in charge of set and lighting design, and he and Perrault did the set construction and painting.

For more information, see Rogers City Community Theatre on Facebook or at www.RCCTheatre.org.

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