Baylor Theatre's ‘Thanksgiving Play’ a salty satire

For those who think Thanksgiving dinner with estranged relatives promises the most discomfort comes Larissa FastHorse's "The Thanksgiving Play," which adds its own squirm factor for some viewers, even as it serves double portions of laughter.

The play, whose Baylor Theatre production continues through Sunday, imagines what happens to a politically correct/woke retelling of the familiar Pilgrims and Indians story when there are no Native American voices in the room.

FastHorse's 2018 play has director Logan (Bekah Dunning) hired to write a play suitable for elementary school students about the first Thanksgiving, but one sensitive to Native American sensibilities. Joining her is her partner Jaxon (Sonny Mauldin), an actor, and history teacher Caden (Dylan George), with Native American actress Alicia (Grace Niebur) to give some authenticity to the play.

It turns out that Alicia only plays Native Americans and the well-meaning, but all-Anglo, cast wanders far afield to the point of absurdity. In between are cringe-worthy vignettes drawn from actual retellings of the Thanksgiving story and Native American culture found in school curriculum.

Baylor theater professor David Jortner, director of the Baylor production, said FastHorse slides her message between layers of laughter. "It's overtly the funniest thing I've ever directed and the most biting satire I've directed," he said. It's also the first play written by a Native American to be produced at Baylor, he noted.

FastHorse, the only female Native American playwright to be produced on Broadway, reportedly wrote "The Thanksgiving Play" after being told that her plays couldn't be produced because Native American actors were hard to find. Her reply: an all-Anglo play where the missing Native American voice is the one that stays with the audience.

"Satire is always walking that edge between the funny and the uncomfortable," Jortner said.

The director said working with his actors on the vignettes of school stories was a special delight. "Creating those were so far over the top. I'm doing things I never imagined doing at Baylor University," he said.

Also providing input on the Baylor production were Waco native descendent Derek Ross and Baylor student Jacob Barajas, a Navajo, who also are creating a lobby display to accompany the Baylor production.

"The Thanksgiving Play"

: 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday at Baylor's Hooper-Schaefer Fine Arts Center.

: $25, available at baylor.edu/theatre.

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