The Capitol Arts Alliance and Etcetera Theatre Company are bringing Texas’ third smallest town back to the stage with a holiday twist with Jaston Williams, Joe Sears and Ed Howard’s award-winning comedy, “A Tuna Christmas.”

“We thought we’d take advantage of the ‘Christmas in July’ idea,” said Capitol Arts Youth Theatre artistic director Christopher Cherry, who is playing 10 of the 20 men, women, children and animals in the production.

The play will be at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Capitol Arts Center. Tickets are $10 for adults and $8 for seniors/students, plus a $3 Capitol Preservation Fee per total transaction.

In “A Tuna Christmas,” it’s Christmas Eve and the big running theme is the Christmas Phantom, who is on the loose and wrecking havoc on the tiny town’s eclectic citizens.

“It’s a prankster who really causes problems with people’s yards and Christmas decorations,” Cherry said. “A big part of the play deals with figuring out who the phantom is.”

The story also deals with the lives of other characters in “Tuna.” Capitol Arts Youth Theatre artistic staff member Brett Andrew Riley – who also plays 10 characters in the play – said one of his characters, Bertha Bumiller, is trying to hold things together for the holidays.

“She’s trying to get her house ready for Christmas, get her family together and try to make a fun Christmas, but she is failing miserably,” he said. “She’s trying to make it through holidays without completely losing it.”

Riley and Cherry said they’ve enjoyed revisiting “Tuna” – where the Lion’s Club is too liberal and Patsy Cline never dies. The duo did “Greater Tuna” in October and liked it so much that they decided to do it again in June.

“It’s great story, and we enjoyed doing ‘Greater Tuna’ so much that we wanted to do ‘A Tuna Christmas,’ ” Cherry said.

Riley said he loves the script.

“I really like the use of the comedy because there are places where the script becomes serious for a little while, and then the rest of the time it’s just ridiculously hilarious,” he said.

— For tickets or more information, call the Capitol at 782-2787 or visit its Web site at www.capitolarts.com.