Jaston Williams, best known for creating half the town in the Greater Tuna sagas, will now know half the country as author and gossip Truman Capote in Jay Presson Allen's Tru, running Sept. 7-Oct. 8 at Austin's Whisenhunt Arena Stage. Larry Randolph directs this kickoff for the Zachary Scott's Second Stage season.

Set at Christmas, 1975, Tru finds author Capote at a low moment in his life. After Esquire published an excerpt from his devastating roman a clef, "Las Cote Basque, 1965," the writer's famous friends forsake him, so he's left with nothing to do but gossip about them to the audience. The darkly funny Southern man kept company with a wide range of well-knowns, from Jackie O and the Kennedys to Garbo, Colette and Marilyn Monroe. Presson Allen is the author of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and Alfred Hitchcock's "Marnie."

Williams co-created the highly successful Tuna two-man shows with acting partner Joe Sears and Ed Howard. Williams and Sears still travel with the shows, taking the latest, Red, White and Tuna and A Tuna Christmas out on the road. The native Texan has also appeared in The Foreigner and The Fantasticks.

Tickets are $32-$25. The Zachary Scott Theatre is located at 1510 Toomey Road. For reservations, call (512) 476-0541 ext. 1. The Zachary Scott is online at http://www.zachscott.com.

-- By Christine Ehren