They laughed the first day they read it through. Months later, and just a day before the show goes on, the cast of “Greater Tuna” is still laughing.

“If the cast that has read the script at least a million times can still laugh at it, then we’re bound to entertain the audience,” said Crystal Holman, Arts of the Pamlico’s weekend coordinator.

Holman is also the director of the play that’s described as hilarious and a classic comedy. The premise of the show centers a radio show in the fictitious town of Tuna, Texas, also known as the third-smallest town in Texas.

“It is a wonderful comedic play about small town life with a huge shot of satire,” Holman said.

“You’re opening on a typical day in Tuna, Texas, back when everybody use to listen to the radio to get all their information, and what you’ll find is secrets among the high society that think they’re better than everybody else. Now, we’re not going to reveal those secretes, yet. If you want to know those secrets, you’ve got to come to see the play.”

Theater-goers will have two opportunities to see the AOP Players in comedic action this weekend: Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and a Sunday matinee at 3 p.m.

The growing theater group put on a performance of the musical “Nunsense” last year, but the hope is to produce two or three community theater shows a year, in addition those offered by the youth theater program, Bubblegum Theater. Bubblegum Theater’s next show is “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” coming up in October, and the two theater groups will combine in the spring for another musical, “Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat.”

The players will get plenty of opportunity to show off their acting chops in this weekend’s production. While there are 21 characters in “Greater Tuna,” there are only 12 actors playing them, which was the intention of the scriptwriters. In the original production, two actors played all 21 roles.

“They have more than one role — that’s the way it is written and laid out in the script. They have time to go off stage and change costumes and come back on as a different character,” Holman said.

Holman said that after months of rehearsal, she and the cast are ready.

“I’m ready for this show open,” she laughed.

Arts of the Pamlico’s Turnage Theatre is located at 150 W. Main St., Washington. Tickets for “Greater Tuna” are $12 or $10 if paid in cash. They can be purchased online at www.artsofthepamlico.org and the Turnage box office. For more information, call 252-946-2504.