BENNINGTON, Vt. — For more than three decades now, Eric Peterson and the Oldcastle Theatre Company have been giving New Yorkers yet another good reason to visit Vermont.

“The average life of an American theater company is five years. So for us to be in our 37th season is pretty remarkable,” said Peterson, the founder and producing artistic director at Oldcastle. “We’ve done over 200 productions, and plays that have been developed or premiered with us have been done in 30 states and eight foreign countries. We’re very proud of our success.”

Peterson will be directing his troupe’s next show, a production of “Greater Tuna” set to open Friday night at Oldcastle’s home since 1994, the Bennington Center for the Arts. (The comedy is also playing through this summer at the Lake George Dinner Theatre at the Holiday Inn in Lake George.)

Big job for two

The two-person play, an off-Broadway smash that became the most produced play in the U.S. in 1985, “Greater Tuna” is set in “the third smallest town in Texas,” according to the show’s Web site, “where the Lions Club is too liberal and Patsy Cline never dies.” Actors Willy Jones and Richard Howe, the assistant artistic director at Oldcastle, play all 20 characters in the show, including the two radio personalities who monitor all the comings and goings in Tuna, Texas.

Oldcastle had originally scheduled Wendy Wasserstein’s play, “Third,” for its September offering, but had to change its plans.

“One of our lead actors suddenly couldn’t do it. So we just thought instead of casting for a new lead we’d postpone it and do it next year,” said Peterson. “We did do ‘Greater Tuna’ a while ago, and people have been asking for us to do it again for a while now. So this was a good opportunity. Our audience seems to love this show.”

Much of the Oldcastle fan base is from the Capital Region, according to Peterson.

“There are a lot more people over in the Capital District than there are in this part of Vermont. So we’re very happy that we’re that close,” said Peterson. “A large portion of our crowd comes from New York, and we’ve had people coming from Schenectady and Colonie and Rensselaer and Washington counties for years now.”

Like a pair of old shoes

Those fans are very familiar with Jones, a retired school teacher from Pownal and Howe, who first performed in the play together in 1987.

“It’s a great chance for us to play 10 different characters and really stretch ourselves as actors,” said Jones. “I play a young boy; Rick plays a dog. It’s a lot of fun, and it’s been 21 years since I was first in this show. So I’m going to discover some new things about the characters.”

“It just feels like putting on a comfortable pair of old shoes,” said Howe, who has been with Oldcastle since 1977. “Willy and I have done it a few times over the years. The characters are still pretty present to us, and hopefully will find out some new things about them.”

“Greater Tuna” was written by Joe Sears, Jaston Williams and Ed Howard, with Sears and Williams the two performers as the show filled houses in San Francisco, Atlanta and Houston in 1981 before enjoying a yearlong run off-Broadway run at the Circle in the Square Theatre. A sequel, “Tuna Christmas,” reached Broadway in 1994 with Sears earning a Tony Award nomination for his performance. And in 1998, with Sears and Williams still performing and Howard directing, “Red, White and Tuna” was introduced as the third segment of the trilogy and continues to tour nationally.

Quick-change artists

One of the many challenging aspects of performing the play is the constant costume changes.

“In one of the reviews for our earlier show, the critic gave our dressers a good review,” said Jones. “Well, we didn’t have any dressers. We did all the costume changing ourselves. The backstage area looks like a hurricane hit it by the time we get done.”

Because of the costume changes, there are a few short periods when neither actor is on stage.

“I think we surprise some people with how quickly we change,” said Howe. “There are a few moments when we’re not on stage and you hear the radio voices, but it doesn’t happen that often. It’s only just enough time for us to change. It’s never for more than a few seconds.”

Howe is also the play’s stage designer.

“Over the years, I’ve done quite a lot of set designing here, and I also do some administrative work assisting Eric with the play selection, casting, payroll and other things like that,” said Howe. “But I’ve always enjoyed set designing, and the one we have for this performance is pretty much like the original set back in 1987. We haven’t changed that much.”

While Howe still gets plenty of opportunity to perform, Peterson hasn’t been on stage since 2004.

“I have plenty enough to do,” said Peterson, who grew up in the Bennington area and went to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City before pursuing a career in theater. “But I always wanted to work for a theater company, and back in 1975 five of us started our own touring company. We performed around the East Coast, but one of the places we went to was Bennington because my parents would always feed us.”

The Oldcastle Theatre Company played a few performances at the historic Park-McCullough House in North Bennington before moving into Southern Vermont College in Bennington in 1977. Soon after moving into its current home in 1994, Peterson began the Bennington Actors Express, which performs at local schools, and just recently began offering an acting program for seniors.

“We’re trying to be a full-service theater company,” said Peterson. “We’re involved in our community, we had a joint production with East Tennessee State, and we’re going to have one with Green Mountain College [in Poultney] next season. We’ve always been more of a summer theater, but this season feels like the endless one. We’re going to be going from March to November.”