Tom Gibis gets a wild workout oscillating between his roles of brother and sister in Phil Olson’s “A Don’t Hug Me County Fair.”
The musical comedy is in its world premiere now through March 29 at the Lonny Chapman Group Repertory Theatre in North Hollywood.
Gibis plays Gunner Johnson, who owns a bar in Bunyan Bay, Minn., with his wife, Clara.
It’s county fair time and several of the women in the bar decide to compete in the Miss Walleye Queen Competition, including Clara, a waitress named Bernice, and Johnson’s twin sister, Trigger — also played by Gibis.
“The jokes come fast and furious,” Gibis said.
“If you don’t like that one, you’ll like the next one. There’s a lot coming at you, so it’s fun.”
The key to the friendly comedy, the Burbank resident added, is the big, loud characters.
Gunner is a crabby 50-year-old man, a younger version of Walter Matthau’s character in “Grumpy Old Men,” Gibis said.
“He is set in his ways,” he said. “He’s irritated by everyone.”
Conversely, Trigger is fun and flighty, Gibis said.
“I play her cute and not threatening, and the audience gets her,” he said.
During the auditions, Olson said he and director Doug Engalla had to evaluate actors for both parts.
“A lot were good at Gunner, not Trigger,” Olson said. “But as soon as Tom did his interpretation of the Trigger character, we looked at each other and said ‘this is the guy.’ We didn’t have to see anyone else.”
The fact Gibis’ characters can’t be on stage at the same time is really played up, Gibis said. And throughout the production, he has to change his voice as well as his costume. He adds a wig and dress, but wears the same shoes for both characters, which is brought up in the dialogue, he said.
“There is fun with that, with a wink to the audience that they are two separate people,” he said.
Even the program creates a separate identity as Trigger is listed as Tina Gibis. And the audience loves it, he said.
In one scene, Gunner runs off stage and has an argument with Trigger.
“When I come back on stage, it’s always gotten applause,” he said. “It’s sort of dancing on that line of the willing suspension of disbelief — we know it isn’t real but we accept it.”
