On Friday (Nov. 10), BLAST (Bold Local Artists of the Southern Tier) will open a two-weekend run of the modern comedic satire The Thanksgiving Play at the Cider Mill Stage in Endicott.
Playwright Larissa FastHorse is the first Native American woman to bring a show to Broadway. Her satirical comedy revolves around two teachers and two actors attempting to create a politically correct school play about the first Thanksgiving in order to honor Native American Heritage Month.
The characters end up blundering their way through acting exercises, gruesome history lessons and odd plot points while discovering that it isn’t easy for white thespians to devise a show that authentically represents Native Americans. With humor that is a mixture of Saturday Night Live skits and Seinfeld episodes, Fasthorse’s play presents four annoying yet lovable characters who are as full of good intentions as they are full of themselves.
The cast features K Morgan Prikazsky as Logan, a wound-too-tight drama teacher who wants to direct a simple play about Thanksgiving; Adam Ford as her boyfriend, Jaxton, an actor and yoga dude who is politically correct to a fault; Rob Egan as Caden, a fellow teacher and historian who has written 62 plays with no idea how to stage them, and Ilana Rose Wallenstein as Alicia, a beautiful actress hired by Logan who gives the false impression that she is actually Native American.
As tensions rise, four students and a teacher (Andy Bailey, Elizabeth Hotalen, Sonny DeWitt, Stefanie Willette and Wendy Germond) act out short videos that humorously depict problematic Thanksgiving lesson plans.
Will this innocent and pleasant pageant about the exchange of food turn into a raucous sex comedy?
The production is directed by Kate Murray, with set design by Sonny DeWitt, lighting design by Gabrielle Button, sound design by Michael Kane and costume design by Shannon Roma DeAngelo.
IF YOU GO: BLAST will present The Thanksgiving Play at the Cider Mill Stage, 2 Nanticoke Ave., Endicott. Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 10-12 and 17-19. All seats are $28 and may be purchased by visiting cidermillstage.com or by calling the box office at 607-321-9630.
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