Stage veteran Paul Pierce rides into Ocala

Scott Fitzgerald, bottom, and Paul Pierce, top, rehearse a scene from A Tuna Christmas at The Civic on East Silver Springs Boulevard in Ocala, Fla. on Monday, Dec. 1, 2025. The play will be live on stage from Dec. 3-14, 2025 at the Ocala Civic Theatre. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2025.

Paul Pierce came to the theatre world late.

“I didn’t see my first play until I was a freshman in college. I came from a blue-collar, working-class family who were loquacious storytellers,” Pierce said.

Long before anyone handed him a script, the Rome, Georgia, native had already swung a hammer as a carpenter, run a bandsaw in a factory, cut meat as a butcher, driven trucks, hauled lumber, pumped gas and, in one of his more unusual gigs, helped a funeral home move graves under cover of darkness.

Then came that first night in a University of Georgia auditorium.

“When I saw my first play at UGA, I sat in that dark theatre thinking, ‘I could do this,’” Pierce said. “The next day, I declared myself a drama major.”

Four years later, at the Southeastern Theatre Conference in Norfolk, he earned 28 callbacks in a single weekend.

“One of those was with the Repertory Theatre of America for a 10-month national tour. I became friends with the producer, Drexel Riley, and he became my mentor. He gave me my first breaks as a professional actor, as a director and, ultimately, I became the associate artistic director of RTA producing nine national tours a year,” Pierce said.

What followed was a whirlwind career: acting across the country in summer stock, regional houses, touring companies and children’s theatre; running the Harbor Playhouse in Corpus Christi, Texas; serving as managing director of Virginia’s Wayside Theatre; and, in 1988, returning home to Georgia to lead the Springer Opera House for 35 years, where he performed in all four Greater Tuna comedies and clocked more than 200 performances of “A Tuna Christmas” alone.

Now freshly retired from the corner office but nowhere near ready to leave the footlights, Pierce is heading south to share the Ocala Civic Theatre, or The Civic, stage with Scott Fitzgerald in the wild, wig-filled holiday hit.

From Dec. 3-14, those two actors will bring more than 20 of the small Texas town of Tuna’s most eccentric residents to life while a mysterious Christmas-yard phantom terrorizes the annual lawn display contest. Radio announcers gossip, quick changes fly and the laughs come so fast you don’t need to keep up with the plot to keep up with the fun.

This year’s production has been a whirlwind of last-minute casting changes worthy of the show’s own lightning-fast costume swaps. For Fitzgerald, those twists have unexpectedly turned Ocala into what he calls “not just the Horse Capital of the World, but arguably the ‘Tuna Christmas’ capital of the world.”

“Paul being here is the story. He is the most experienced actor in this role in the world, and we can watch him. His lineage is being planted into this growing tradition of ‘Tuna’ at OCT,” Fitzgerald said. “He’s Secretariat and my hope and honor is to ride along and watch and do my best and learn everything I can and fulfill my dream of working with professionals at the top of their skill level and mastery.”

When Fitzgerald learned he would share the stage with the 200-plus-performance legend, he said he felt like he had better step up his game.

“It was scary and exhilarating at the same time. It’s thrilling to be able to learn and explore with arguably the single best person in the world for this role. He was directed for years by Ed Howard, who co-wrote and directed the original. The lineage is amazing. For the equine folks in town, it’s like watching Secretariat run or Boyd Martin ride…it doesn’t get any better. He has made me a better actor and person. Because on top of everything, he is a delightful human being,” Fitzgerald said.

The Civic’s Executive and Artistic Director, Greg Thompson, brought the show back because audiences seemed to love it.

“We learned that many folks want a holiday show that’s heartwarming, and they also want a show that makes them laugh. ‘Tuna’ is both,” Thompson said.

Melody Murphy, director of marketing and public relations for The Civic, has a 10-second pitch ready for anyone on the fence about purchasing tickets.

“One crazy Christmas in tiny little Tuna, Texas. Two men playing two dozen characters in two hours and you only have two weeks to catch the show. It’s fast, it’s funny and it’s festive,” Murphy said.

Murphy insists it’s the perfect antidote to Nutcracker and Hallmark overload.

“It’s hysterically funny. And people like that. They need that at this time of year. Magic is also to be found in laughter, in laughing along with the crowd in a theatre, being together and finding joy in a warm-hearted place on a cold, dark night,” Murphy said.

For returning fans, Murphy said this year’s show will feel brand-new.

“It will feel like a whole new play because in a two-person show, when you change one actor you’ve changed the whole experience. This year we have the amazing Paul Pierce joining us and adding his personal brand of magic to Scott Fitzgerald’s own comedic genius. The way Paul and Scott play off each other and interact is new and fresh,” she said.

Thompson explained how the two actors became more than 20 Texans in seconds.

“Rehearsal is a fun process where you watch the actors work/play and discover each character’s physical traits and vocal nuances. Then it’s about repetition to embed these qualities into your body — muscle memory,” Thompson said.

Thompson kept the set’s “look” true to its roots.

“The set is styled after the original production, which references The Alamo. It also depicts the Texas desert landscape. The costumes reflect each character, with special touches inspired by their individual personalities,” he said.

Pierce relates most to the long-suffering mom Bertha Bumiller.

“There is a lot of Joann Pierce in Bertha Bumiller,” he said.

He calls the final scene between Bertha and radio DJ Arles the emotional payoff after all these years.

“Two broken people are healed and renewed, just in time for Christmas,” Pierce said.

Pierce also credits a calm backstage philosophy he learned from “Tuna” co-creator Ed Howard.

“Slow is fast,” Pierce said.

Even after more than 200 shows, he said quick changes are never frantic but instead, called them “as well-rehearsed as any scene in the play.”

He still laughs about the night co-star Ron Anderson’s mustache slowly peeled off mid-scene.

“Eventually, the mustache just fell off onto the table. Without missing a beat, Ron ad libbed, ‘Oh, well, I needed to shave anyway,’” Pierce recalled.

Pierce wants Ocala audiences to feel the full arc of characters he has carried for 24 years.

“The entire arc of these characters lives in my body. They are real. Really real. My job is to get out of the way so the characters can get onstage,” he said.

Thompson’s favorite line this season remains one from Petey Fisk of the Greater Tuna Humane Society: “You just give nature some space and it won’t try to kill you.”

And Thompson is already eyeing an annual tradition.

“We are looking for a great fit to be our holiday tradition with the community. I love ‘Tuna Christmas’ and we’re open to it becoming ‘the one,’” he said.

The Civic Theatre is located at 4337 E. Silver Springs Blvd., Ocala. Purchase tickets through the box office, by phone at (352) 236-2274 or at ocalacivictheatre.com

A Tuna Christmas at the Ocala Civic Theatre

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