NSU alumnus Sears enjoying success onstage

Tahlequah, Okla. Having attained phenomenal success throughout his career in theater and art, Joe Sears is another of Northeastern State Universitys standout alumni.

On June 26 Sears, a Tony-nominated actor, playwright and co-creator of the wildly popular Tuna, Texas stage series, was named the Tulsa Awards for Theatre Excellence 2011 Distinguished Artist during the awards ceremony at the Cascia Hall Preparatory School Performing Arts Center.

The TATE awards, established by the George Kaiser Family Foundation, award prize money to the three best Tulsa-area stage productions and the top childrens production.

Sears has never forgotten the people and institutions which influenced his knowledge, decisions and creations, and he assigns NSU monumental significance.

I wanted to give back to my university, Sears said. Ive always wanted to improve the world with what I knew. But Im not a politician. Im an artist, and I can only share my art.

The NSU community was delighted to welcome back Sears, 61, as an artist in residence with the College of Liberal Arts during the spring 2011 term. The Tony-nominated actor, playwright and co-creater of the wildly popular Tuna, Texas stage series shared his expertise with students majoring in theatre.

He said mentoring students was the most rewarding facet of his return to NSU and that he enjoyed campus life.

The instruction is the main reason Im here, he said. I have no money buried here. I love my school. I stayed in married housing and loved that. I spent some time painting and studying my lines. I met the faculty and made new friends I fit right in.

Sears, a 1972 NSU graduate, said some of his most meaningful and memorable experiences were on campus and in Tahlequah.

My whole awakening and process of learning happened there, he said. The skills to achieve everything Ive accomplished, I learned how to do while at NSU. And I made some of the greatest friends of my life.

When naming faculty influences, Sears first cites C.H. Parker, who suggested Sears pursue a double major and noticed and nurtured his developing talent. They first met when Sears arrived at NSU in 1969 and their friendship continues to this day.

Sears also credits James Malone, Charles Seat and Ruth Arrington as instructors who impacted his life, and refers to their time at NSU as a classical era in acting and theatre tutelage.

They influenced so many generations of students, but now they are all retired or passed away, Sears said. Today most of the faculty is in their 30s. I enjoy working with these teachers because they are so energetic and passionate.

Greater Tuna is the production through which Sears earned fame as a stage performer and writer.

The Tuna productions began in the fall of 1981 in Austin, Texas. Creators Sears, Jaston Williams and Ed Howard were the imaginations that turned the sketch into a critically acclaimed production. The assorted citizens of Tuna are portrayed by only two performers.

Greater Tuna became the most produced play in the U.S. during the mid-1980s and in 1990 Sears performed at the White House for President George H.W. Bush and First Lady Barbara Bush.

In April, when the seasons final act cancelled for the NSU Sequoyah Institutes Galaxy of Stars series, Sears and Williams quickly assembled a production of Tuna skits and presented The Tuna Boys 30 Years Together and Still Speaking. Parker served as host. More than 800 tickets were sold more than 700 in advance.

That was a lot of fun, he said. "We had never done that before and we were happy to do it for the Sequoyah Institute. Its got us thinking about doing it again at another location. Or perhaps we could do it again in Tahlequah.

In the Tuna series, Sears is dressed as a woman for many of the parts. He said it isn't as strange as one might think.

In Elizabethan theatre, all female characters were played by men, he said. Women werent allowed on stage back then. And if you're a man, you need to be a pretty good actor to play a woman.

Sears said many of the lively characters of Tuna are drawn from people he knew in the ranch lands near his hometown of Bartlesville.

My folks were ranchers I had lots of country rednecks in my life, he said. My uncles tried to teach me to ranch but I wasn't very good. Id get knocked down and they would tease me. So Id get sent to the kitchen and listen to the women gossip. My family and friends are interesting.

Of Cherokee decent, Sears first acting job was with the Cherokee Nations Trail of Tears performances at the Tsa-La-Gi outdoor amphitheater. Writing credits for Sears include updates to the Trail of Tears productions and Doin Gods Chores. He has appeared on television in HBOs Greater Tuna and in the feature film The Good Old Boys with Matt Damon and Tommy Lee Jones. His Tony nomination was in 1995 for playing a dozen characters in A Tuna Christmas.

He continues to write plays. Those in different stages of creation include The Kansas Open with nine roles for senior citizens and Last Stand, a comedy about the contentious George Armstrong Custer being allowed a return to modern-day earth to pursue lost glory. Changing of the Guard, still in conception, is about the souls residing in the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

During the OK Mozart festival, June 10-19 in Bartlesville, Sears will perform a narrative impersonation of Abraham Lincoln in Aaron Coplands Lincoln Portrait, preceding the Amici New York Orchestras premiere performance of Wiley Post. The show is June 15.

Though known for his stagecraft, Sears is also an accomplished visual artist. His works, ranging from watercolors to ceramics to birdhouses, are frequently on exhibit.

Named an inaugural Centurion by NSU, Sears will continue to serve as an artist-in-residence at his alma mater each spring term. He said mentoring students is one way to play his part in promoting the arts in his native state.

This semester I noticed a lot of students attending the plays, he said. Id like to see Oklahoma become more interested in the arts. In Tahlequah and Bartlesville we are, but one day I hope to see that interest everywhere.

While retirement is still a few years away, Sears is considering his plans after leaving the stage and he wants NSU included in them.

President (Don) Betz and Dean (Paul) Westbrook have made it pretty clear they would like me involved with the College of Liberal Arts in some way, Sears said. I cant stay at NSU full-time because I am still working. But now my foot is in the door, the students know me and when I retire from the stage perhaps I can do two semesters of residency each year. Who knows? I might get my masters and join the faculty. I don't feel limited in what I can do in any way.