Moline’s “The Thanksgiving Play” Another Quad-Cities Premiere at Black Box
The Black Box Theatre in downtown Moline presents another Quad Cities premiere opening this weekend – “The Thanksgiving Play” by Larissa FastHorse.
The 2018 play centers around a group of four well-meaning but culturally insensitive white theater artists who attempt to create a politically correct school play about the first Thanksgiving while struggling with their own biases and the lack of Native representation.
The play (which premiered in Portland, Ore., and had its Broadway debut in 2023) is a “satirical comedy that critiques the well-meaning but misguided attempts of four white characters tasked with creating a politically correct Thanksgiving pageant for elementary school students. Their goal is to celebrate Native American Heritage Month while navigating their own biases and the complexities of cultural representation. However, the irony lies in the fact that none of them are Native American, leading to a series of comedic and revealing situations as they grapple with their lack of authenticity and understanding,” according to a synopsis.
“The Thanksgiving Play” by Larissa FastHorse is a QC premiere, running Oct. 17-Nov. 1, directed by Alex Richardson at Black Box Theatre, 1623 5th Ave., Moline.
The author Larissa FastHorse says she wrote the play in response to “the common notion that her works couldn’t be produced due to the perceived difficulty in finding Native American actors. To challenge this casting limitation, FastHorse crafted a play that tackles Native American issues without relying on Native American actors.”
In a New Yorker profile, FastHorse, a member of the Sicangu Lakota nation, stated that the “assumptions you’re making of what’s acceptable behavior in theatre are completely different from what is normal behavior in so many cultures.”
A 2023 review of the Broadway production (at newyorktheatreguide.com) said: “It may be awkward to listen to young children recount racist and violent visions of Thanksgiving’s disputed history, but this discomfort may be the point.”
“It’s a little disconcerting to hear so much laughter from the very theatregoers FastHorse caricatures — people who are not just the punchline, but also the problem — but FastHorse takes that laughter all the way to the bank,” the review said. “The Thanksgiving Play has had a vibrant regional theatre life, becoming one of the most produced plays in the country in the 2019-20 season, and returns with a script revised to reference the murder of George Floyd and how teachers now ‘see color, but we don’t speak for it.’”
The production marked the first time that a female Native American playwright had a play produced on Broadway. Her work is known for blending humor with social critique, particularly regarding Indigenous representation in American culture.
Native American playwright Larissa FastHorse.
A 2023 review at timeout.com said: “FastHorse effectively roasts her characters as turkeys, trussed by their own self-consciousness. In a swift 90 minutes, The Thanksgiving Play delivers solid laughs at the expense of targets that are admittedly, at this point, not unfamiliar: clueless liberals so busy holding space that they don’t get around to filling it with anything.”
In 2020, FastHorse was named as a MacArthur Foundation Fellow. The citation for this prestigious “genius grant” said she “combines a keen sense of satire and facility with dramatic forms in plays that are funny, incisive, and, at times, deeply unsettling for audiences faced with the realities of Native Americans’ experience in the United States.”
Thayne Lamb, left, and Adrienne Jane Evans in “The Thanksgiving Play” at Moline’s Black Box Theatre.
Heading the Black Box production (opening Oct. 17) is director/light designer Alexander Richardson with a cast made up of Cole McFarren, Adrienne Jane, Celeaciya Olvera and Thayne Lamb, with stage management/assistant direction by Kori Ralston, set and costume design by Lora Adams (Black Box co-founder/artistic director) and set construction by Adams, Ralston, Richardson and Michael Kopriva.
The show runs Oct. 17 through Nov. 1 at 1623 5th Ave., Moline. Tickets are $18 and can be purchased online at theblackboxtheatre.com or at the door.
