“The Thanksgiving Play,” an award-winning satirical comedy by Larissa FastHorse opening Friday at Perseverance Theatre, is “four white people trying to put on a traditional Thanksgiving play, trying to be respectful and not offending anybody…They ended up offending everybody,” says director Frank Katasse.
The play follows four characters; Caden, portrayed by Ben Brown; Logan, played by Kristen Rankin; Jaxton, by Travis Morris; and Lauren Parkinson in the role of Alicia. While the original play premiered in 2018 and made its Broadway debut in 2023, Juneau’s version found a unique way to keep it close to home: videos of local Alaskan kids singing politically offensive and outdated songs between scenes.
“The Thanksgiving Play,” which will be performed in Juneau through March 16, runs for approximately 80 minutes. A pay-as-you-can preview is scheduled at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Katasse said he feels confident in how things have developed in the past month of rehearsals.
“It’s a tight play right now…we could put this on tomorrow,” he said.
Travis Morris rehearses a scene as the character Jaxton from “The Thanksgiving Play” on Thursday night at Perseverance Theatre. (Photo by Molly Johnson)
Perseverance Theatre has a connection with the playwright who originally wrote “The Thanksgiving Play.” Leslie Ishii, the creative director, has been working at the theatre since 2019. She shared that she and FastHorse have known each other for years through her work in making theatres more inclusive. FastHorse was able to call into one of the rehearsals and provide insight for the actors and directors to draw upon in their preparation to put this play on for both the Juneau and Anchorage communities.
“We have designers from Hawaii and Anchorage and California, they’re all from all over the place,” Katasse said.
This play provides an amusing view on the idea of cancel culture, Indigenous sensitivity, and American history.
“Like any really good story or play, it kind of holds up a mirror and allows you to reflect back, like with humor,” Ishii said. “I think humor is one of the most powerful ways that we come together and get to examine that reflection, and even create understanding together…Humor is intellectual. It’s physical…I think that with humor, we sometimes learn our lessons the best, or we can examine things more closely because we have humor involved.”
When asked what her favorite part about this production was, Ishii said, “watching Frank Katasse work with the cast. Frank has a tremendous funny bone…We’ve seen it in his playwriting. We’ve seen it in his own performing and now as director, he’s lifting it up out of this play with these actors. So that’s been a real joy.”
Travis Morris, who takes on the role of Jaxton, agreed with this.
“I think it’s been great the leadership in the piece, and especially having Frank and Aaron in the room considering how this play might be viewed from really all angles,” he said.
Kristen Rankin, portraying Logan, shared that her favorite part was being an actor getting to portray a director.
“The play has some great theater within theater,” she said. “So you get to see the behind the scenes and hear the theater jokes, and get to know a very funny process of creating a play that is not necessarily typical, but it’s very funny.”
“The Thanksgiving Play” has had over 300 adaptations in the years since its release, proving what an adaptable play it is.
“Everywhere you go…it’s on Indigenous land. And so this (play) fits everywhere…It’s always about trying to figure out how to do a respectful Thanksgiving play without any Native people and trying to represent them on stage,” Katasse explained.
“It is a controversial piece. I think this is only the second production of the 300 productions – the second that I know of that was directed by an Indigenous person,” he added. “Everyone else has been primarily white people and white cast, which is what it’s written for. So it’s pretty on the nose.”
• Molly Johnson can be contacted via editor@juneauempire.com.
Know & Go
What: “The Thanksgiving Play”
When: Feb. 28-March 16 in Juneau; April 4-13 in Anchorage. Pay-as-you-can preview Feb. 26 at Perseverance Theatre.
Where: Juneau performances at Perseverance Theatre.
Who: Written by Larissa FastHorse; directed by Frank Henry Kaash Katasse; scenic designer Akiko Nishijima Rotch; lighting designer Jonnie Painter; projection designer Ryan Anderson; costume designer Kayla Gonzalez; sound designer Sean-Joseph Takeo Kahāokalani Choo; stage manager Winnie Y. Lok; Cast: Ben Brown – Caden, Travis Clark Morris – Jaxton, Kristen Rankin – Logan, Lauren Parkinson – Alicia.
Tickets: $30-$35 most shows.
