In the autumn of 1621, British colonists in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, shared a meal with members of the region’s native Wampanoag Indian tribe to celebrate the fall harvest and their peaceful alliance. But over time, that agreement crumbled, the Native tribes were decimated by Western diseases and war and the idealized mythology of the first Thanksgiving gathering began to grow.
How the tradition of that holiday is taught in American grade schools is the subject of Native American playwright Larissa FastHorse’s 2018 “The Thanksgiving Play,” which opened Saturday in its San Diego premiere at New Village Arts in Carlsbad.
Subtitled “Good Intentions Collide with Absurd Assumptions,” FastHorse’s play isn’t a heavy issue play. It’s a wildly raucous and wacky comedy that playfully pokes holes in the Thanksgiving origins story as well as the cringeworthy stereotypes associated with America’s Indigenous peoples.
Set in a contemporary American classroom, the 90-minute comedy is about four well-meaning but woefully misguided adult actors who have gathered to devise a 45-minute Thanksgiving play for kindergarteners. Exuberantly directed by Daniel Jáquez, the laugh-filled play also skewers the actors’ over-the-top wokeness, their goofy acting exercises and the ridiculous turkey, teepee and cornucopia songs and art projects still practiced in American grade schools.
Samantha Ginn is an always-in-the-moment comic marvel as Logan, the overly earnest play director who has cobbled together multiple grants to produce the play with the help of her unemployed actor boyfriend Jaxton, played with fun, self-absorbed seriousness by Kenny Bordieri. AJ Knox is delightfully bland as Caden, a history teacher and aspiring playwright. And Erica Marie Weisz, in her best San Diego performance to date, steals the show as Alicia, the buxom, happily “simple”-minded actress who goes with the flow.
Logan has hired the empty-headed Alicia because of her Native American heritage, only to learn that Alicia has only ever dressed as an Indian for a publicity headshot. That miscasting is the first of many things that go horribly wrong in the chaotic madness of the play rehearsal, which crescendos with comically gory sprays of fake blood.
“The Thanksgiving Play” features scenic design by Michael Wogulis, costumes by Sandra Ruiz, sound by Evan Eason and lighting by Annelise Salazar, along with fight choreography by Fredy Gomez Cruz.
Some of the most entertaining and eye-opening moments sprinkled throughout FastHorse’s play are the fake, but not-too-far-off-base, songs, skits and costumes that can be found each November in elementary schools around the country. There’s a message in “The Thanksgiving Play,” but it goes down easy in this amusing play.
‘The Thanksgiving Play’
When: 7:30 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays; 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays. Select Wednesdays at 2 p.m. Through Nov. 3
Where: New Village Arts, 2787 State St., Carlsbad
Tickets: $25 and up
Phone: 760-433-3245
Online: newvillagearts.org