New Village Arts in Carlsbad is presenting Larissa FastHorse’s original play “The First Thanksgiving Play” through Nov 3rd on the Ray Charles Stage in the Conrad Prebys Theatre in The Dea Hurston New Village Center.
FastHorse, American Native playwright is an acclaimed San Diego based artist and McArthur Fellow, has hit every political hot button in this saucy, oft times delicious satire.
To quote from the website: “Good intentions collide with absurd assumptions in Larissa FastHorse’s hilarious comedy.”
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| Samantha Ginn, Erica Marie Weisz, AJ Knox, Kenny Bordieri |
Here’s the story as I understand it: Logan (Samantha Ginn) is an elementary school teacher really fu**d up her last assignment. She is given one more chance to keep her job when she gets a grant to create a Thanksgiving Pageant; one that is not offensive to any one people and is culturally appropriate and accurate.
The play opens with four (adults) children dressed as turkeys singing a Thanksgiving song to the tune of The 12 Days of Christmas: “The Nine days of Thanksgiving”. It then segues to a think-tank/class room with three educators awaiting one professional indigenous actress, Alicia, (Erica Marie Weisz) to play all the female parts in “The Thanksgiving Play”. When she arrives, she is considered an airhead by the others but she knows from her acting parts at Disneyland that elementary school kids can only sit still for 20 minutes at a time not the allotted 45 min. planned for this play.
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| Erica Marie Weisz |
Also, on board is Caden (AJ Knox) a history professor who brings along several versions of the first Thanksgiving from 4000 years ago and Jaxton (Kenny Bordieri) another ‘actor’ by profession, but that’s another story.
In this 95 minute production several sketches of the first Thanksgiving are partially acted out until someone has a different idea and we’re off to another reenactment of the first TG. Each and every one of them is loaded with ‘woke’ ideas and vocabulary.
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| Samantha Ginn and Kenny Bordieri |
They are so off the wall and acted by this talented cast and all with a straight face, one can only laugh out loud at the ridiculousness of it all.
Imagine four white adults reenacting the first Thanksgiving to a group of elementary school children, when in fact, no one really knows how the first Thanksgiving really went? And so it was, after 95 min. NOTHING.
With direction by Daniel Jáquez, co- founder of San Diego’s Latinx company TuYo, and an equally talented cast of very funny actors with Samantha Ginn, Erica Marie Weisz, AJ Knox and Kenny Bordieri who put their hearts and souls into this mish mash of wokeness, nothing seems to go right, or left as the case might be
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| AJ Knox and Erica Marie Weisz |
Both women are strong and convincing. Ginn (Logan) who has performed in many productions at NVA is funny, serious, comical and hilarious high strung, energetic, ‘fully committed’ and, a Vegan too boot. Weisz , who was just in “The 39 Steps”, does her own thing to the tune of being called ‘Simple’. She acts as if she doesn’t have a care in the world. She practices it and is funny in her own inimitable way by showing Logan the right way to throw your head back and toss your hair. She just wants a job. She may be off in a corner playing with puppets, or putting on a chief’s headdress. She is as she says, ‘an actress playing an indigenous woman’. This she/her person is a born comedian at her very best.
AJ Knox, the professor, is gaga over Alicia and tries every trick in the trade to win her over but alas, just doesn’t have the “IT Factor”. His comedic timing is spot on and his examples of history are so murky that the rest can’t or won’t use them. Kenny Bordieri’s Jaxton is Logan’s love interest but they have a funny way of showing it. Later on in the play, the two begin to fight each other with bloodied Native American heads leaving all four muddied with streaks of blood. (Joseff Paz, props designer and ass. stage manager).
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| Kenny Bordieri |
Costume and lighting (Sandra Ruiz and Annelise Salazar), scenic designer and sound (Michael Wogulis and Evan Easton), flight choreographer(Fredy Gomez Cruz) make this comedy of errors all come together in what was my take as one side splitting evening of woke entertainment.
At play’s ending it shows, alas, that we are all flawed and complex humans. What a concept.
See you at the theatre.
When: Opened Oct. 12 and runs through Nov. 3. 7:30 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays; 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays. Select Wednesdays at 2 p.m.
Where: New Village Arts, 2787 State St., Carlsbad
Photo: Jason Sullivan
Tickets: $25 and up
Phone: (760) 433-3245
