Image
The Thanksgiving Day Play by Larissa FastHorse presented by Company of Fools
Music & Performances

CANCELED—PLAY READING: The Thanksgiving Play (In-Person)

by Larissa FastHorse

Friday, November 27, 2020 - 7:00 PM

PLEASE NOTE: Due to the Governor of Idaho's recent directive to roll-back to Stage 2 in response to COVID, the IN-PERSON PLAY READINGS have been canceled but please join us from the comfort of home via livestream for The Thanksgiving Play, now on Nov. 27 & 28.

Due to a member of the cast’s proximity to a person with COVID, SVMoA has also postponed the production of The Thanksgiving Play one week, to Nov. 27 & 28, to ensure the safety of our actors and the community.

A group of mismatched teachers and actors have been charged by their school district to devise an ethnically sensitive play to somehow celebrate both Thanksgiving and Native American Heritage Month. In order to be as respectful and accurate as possible, the three white actors defer to the only Native American in the room for guidance and find their expectations of her insights are wildly misguided. In this wickedly funny satire, this foursome must find their way through a hilarious thicket of assumptions, historical perspectives, and school district policies as the absurd pageant must go on!

Directed by:

Claudia McCain and Andrew Alburger

Artists Include:

Logan, Melodie Taylor-Mauldin
Jaxton, Joel Vilinsky
Alicia, Aly Wepplo
Caden, Chris Carwithen

Show Notes

Patrons should note that “The Thanksgiving Play” discusses white privilege, racism and institutional racism in a frank and adult manner, and also includes themes of an adult nature. For these reasons, the play is most appropriate for patrons 14 and older. The approximate run time is 90 minutes. There is no intermission.

"The Thanksgiving Play" Playbill

POST-READING DISCUSSIONS

Immediately after the readings, enjoy a conversation with the artists and facilitator Randy Reinholz, founder and Producing Artistic Director Emeritus of Native Voices at the Autry Museum of the American West. An enrolled member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, Reinholz is a producer, director, actor and playwright, with more than 100 productions in the United States, Australia, England and Canada. Reinholz has received ATHE’s Ellen Stewart Career Achievement in Professional Theatre Award, been recognized by Playwrights’ Arena, Los Angeles Drama Critics, MAP Grant, McKnight Fellowship, and received multiyear support from the NEA, Ford Foundation, Shubert Foundation, City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs, Disney, Sony, and Los Angeles County Arts Commission. He is a professor at San Diego State University, where he served as Head of Acting; Director of the School of Theatre, Television, and Film; and Director of Community Engagement and Innovation.

ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT

Larissa FastHorse (Sicangu Lakota) is an award-winning writer. Her produced plays include The Thanksgiving Play (Playwrights Horizons); What Would Crazy Horse Do? (Kansas City Repertory Theatre); Urban Rez / Native Nation / Lakota Project Trilogy in collaboration with Michel John Garcés (Cornerstone Theater Company, ASU Gammage); Landless and Cow Pie Bingo (AlterTheater); Average Family (Children’s Theater Company of Minneapolis); Teaching Disco Square Dancing to Our Elders: A Class Presentation (Native Voices at the Autry); Vanishing Point (Eagle Project); and Cherokee Family Reunion (Mountainside Theater). Her awards include the PEN/Laura Pels Theater Award for an American Playwright, NEA Distinguished New Play Development Grant, Joe Dowling Annaghmakerrig Fellowship, AATE Distinguished Play Award, Inge Residency, Sundance/Ford Foundation Fellowship, Aurand Harris Fellowship, the UCLA Native American Program Woman of the Year and numerous Creative Capital, MAP Fund, Ford, Mellon and NEA Grants. She is the vice chair of the board of directors of Theater Communications Group and is represented by Jonathan Mills at Paradigm Talent Agency. In October 2020, Ms. FastHorse received the prestigious “Genius Grant” from the Macarthur Foundation. She lives in Santa Monica, California, with her husband, sculptor Edd Hogan. hoganhorsestudio.com #thethanksgivingplay

Generously sponsored by Marcia & Donald Liebich

Company of Fools 25th Season Sponsors

Arrow R Storage, Gwen and Mitchel August, Blaine County Title, Linda and Bob Edwards, Jodie and Dan Hunt and the Roy A. Hunt Foundation, Kenneth Lewis, Marcia and Don Liebich, Linda and Bill Nicholson, Tedde and Jim Reid, Shubert Foundation, Richard Smooke and Family in loving memory of Judith Smooke, Julie Weston and Gerry Morrison, Jeri Wolfson, and Barbara and Stanley Zax

HEALTH & SAFETY PROTOCOLS:
  • CoF & SVMoA staff will wear face masks at the Liberty Theatre.
  • Masks must be worn by attendees at all times except when eating at your seat.
  • Seats are blocked off to ensure that physical distancing is easy.
  • CoF/SVMoA staff members inside the theater will be available to help with seating and answer any questions.
  • Hand sanitizer will be available for staff and attendees.
  • Please do not attend if you are feeling ill or if you’ve recently been in contact with someone ill.
  • We will ensure that cleaning protocols are followed and will limit the number of tickets sold to ensure physical distancing.
MORE INFO:

 

Thanks for your cooperation and help keeping our community safe and healthy!
This event has already passed.
Ticket Prices

FREE, suggested donation (levels: $100, $50, $25, $10)