Ceceaciya Olvera, Thayne Lamb, Adrienne Jane, and Cole McFarren rehearse “The Thanksgiving Play" at the Black Box Theatre -- October 17 through November 1.
Friday, October 17, through Saturday, November 1
The Black Box Theatre, 1623 Fifth Avenue, Moline IL
Lauded by the New York Times as a "brutal satire about mythmaking" and by the Hollywood Reporter as "something for which to be truly thankful," author Larissa FastHorse's comedy The Thanksgiving Play makes its Quad Cities debut at Moline's Black Box Theatre October 17 through November 1, the show's 2023 New York rendition marking the first time that a female Native American playwright had a play produced on Broadway.
In Fasthorse's acclaimed comedy, high-school drama teacher Logan is desperate to save her career. Always ready to rock the boat, she is now facing a petition that calls for her termination. She consequently pursues several grants ranging from education to cultural awareness to bring together three actors that will devise a play about the first Thanksgiving. Or Native American Heritage Month. Or just November in general. With yoga instructor and boyfriend Jaxton, elementary-school teacher Caden, and professional actress Alicia, Logan is out to save her career and tell a culturally conscious story about what it means to be Native American … even though all of the performers are white. Punctuated by offensive (and completely real) Thanksgiving songs from educators' social media, FastHorse’s The Thanksgiving Play is a hilarious jab at political correctness, social wokeness, and cultural assumptions, hailed by the Hollywood Reporter as a "clever satire" that's "very, very funny."
Directing The Thanksgiving Play's Quad Cities premiere and serving as its lighing designer is Alexander Richardson, a Reader theatre reviewer whose many Black Box credits include writing his Barely There Theatre company's To Leer at Lear and An All-American Riot (both staged at the Moline venue), directing Dial M for Murder, and designing the lighting for the recent The Half-Life of Marie Curie. As she did for To Leer at Lear, Kori Ralston serves as Richardson's assistant director and stage manager; the set and costume design are by Black Box co-founder/artistic director Lora Adams, and the set construction is by Adams, Ralston, Richardson, and Michael Kopriva.
Richardson's gifted cast of four, meanwhile, finds Ceceaciya Olvera (the Playcrafters Barn Theatre's Circle Mirror Transformation) making her on-stage Black Box debut opposite venue veterans Adrienne Jane (I & You), Thayne Lamb (All Is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914), and Cole McFarren (The Stranger).
The Thanksgiving Play runs in Moline from October 17 through November 1, with performances Fridays, Saturdays, and Thursday, October 30 at 7:30 p.m. and Syndays at 2 p.m. Admission is $18, and more information and tickets are available by calling (563)284-2350 and visiting TheBlackBoxTheatre.com.
