Steppenwolf Theatre, one of the nation’s premier ensemble theatre companies, continues its 48th season with the Chicago premiere of Larissa FastHorse’s The Thanksgiving Play. A biting comedy about everything right, wrong and woke in America, the play is directed by Jess McLeod. The Thanksgiving Play will run through June 2, 2024 in Steppenwolf’s stunning in-the-round Ensemble Theatre space. The tickets are now on sale.
The Thanksgiving Play features ensemble members Audrey Francis and Tim Hopper, with Paloma Nozicka (in her Steppenwolf debut) and Nate Santana. Four (very) well-intentioned theatre people walk into an elementary school. The work at hand: a Thanksgiving pageant that won’t ruffle any feathers. What could possibly go wrong? In MacArthur Genius Larissa FastHorse’s skewering and satirical comedy, well, just about everything. Rambunctious, thorny and not altogether politically correct, The Thanksgiving Play serves up the hypocrisies of woke America on a big, family-style platter. Come get ya some.
Part public school play, part bloody genocide brought to life on stage, The Thanksgiving Play pushes the boundaries of what is socially acceptable or appropriate. When history is horrifying and deadly, should it be taught to small children as is? Should it be smoothed out and served in bite-sized pieces that are easy to digest? The play leaves more questions than answers.
The main ideas explored in The Thanksgiving Play involve the attempt of an all-white cast to create a respectful and politically correct Thanksgiving play that includes Native American themes. This idea is paradoxical, considering the play is written by a Native American playwright. Larissa FastHorse 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 the play, white characters take on the task of writing and producing a play about Native Americans without consulting them directly, highlighting the complexities and impossibilities of the endeavor. The play sheds light on issues such as the underrepresentation of indigenous actors, misguided attempts to represent Native Americans in American society, the presumption of a homogenous Native American identity instead of recognizing diverse tribal identities, and other challenges faced by indigenous people in America. Through its satirical tone, The Thanksgiving Play humorously delves into the conflict of creating a politically correct portrayal of Thanksgiving without involving Native Americans. Humor and satire aside, the play sharply critiques the historical and ongoing misrepresentation of Native Americans by referencing redface and the inaccurate portrayal of indigenous culture.
Larissa FastHorse is a Native American playwright, director, and choreographer. She has written and produced numerous contributions to Native American drama, plays involving issues with indigenous people in American society and issues in theatre. She is originally from South Dakota and is an enrolled member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, Lakota Nation. She began as a ballet dancer, but after an injury, always loving to write, she started working in TV and film as a TV executive and writer. While she achieved some success in the TV world, FastHorse preferred the collaboration of the theatre world. FastHorse is an award-winning writer and 2020-2025 MacArthur Fellow. Her The Thanksgiving Play is one of the most produced plays in America.
The Thanksgiving Play is now on Stage at Steppenwolf Theatre, 1646 North Halsted Street, in Chicago’s Clybourn Corridor neighborhood. Tickets are now on sale at steppenwolf.org or by calling the box office at (312) 335-1650.